The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the Oireachtas Subcommittee enquiring into the mini-CTC rail-signalling project. The committee is now free to resume its hearings.
The court had been asked to reverse a High Court decision lifting a stay on the proceedings. Noreen McDonnell, the widow of the late CIE Chief Executive, Michael McDonnell, had taken the action and appeal.
Mrs McDonnell's court proceedings have delayed the completion of the enquiry into cost overruns in the project at Iarnród Éireann. Judicial review proceedings against the subcommittee are still in being, but with the stay now lifted, the enquiry can complete its work.
Dismissing Mrs McDonnell's appeal, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Ronan Keane, said that granting a stay on the enquiry would defer rather than expedite cross-examination of witnesses. This was one of the issues raised by Mrs McDonnell's legal team.
The court said that further delay until litigation had concluded would be significant. The court added that there was a risk, given that the Oireachtas is in its last months, that the subcommittee would not complete its work and deliver its report before the Dáil was dissolved.
The court also said that Mrs McDonnell had been given important safeguards to help her defend her late husband's reputation from unjust attack. The committee's undertaking not to publish the report until the court proceedings are determined was also ruled to protect her rights.
