The Sun has been refused a High Court stay allowing it to challenge a court judgment granting Louis Walsh discovery of documents in his defamation claim against the newspaper.
Mr Walsh was told last week that he was entitled to documents relating to the newspaper's investigation of a garda inquiry into an alleged sex attack by him on a man in a nightclub toilet.
Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill today said he was not going to allow Newsgroup Newspapers Limited a stay because the matter had dragged on too long.
Declan Doyle, counsel for Mr Walsh, told the court that Newsgroup Newspapers had obstructed Mr Walsh every step of the way since the article was published in The Sun in June 2011.
The application for a stay had been made by James McGowan, counsel for the defendants.
He said the defendants would like to have further consultation with their senior counsel in the case, who was currently on holiday.
He asked that the matter be put back until September.
Mr Doyle said Mr Walsh was most anxious for the matter to be resolved and the defendants had been dragging their feet and had to be dragged through the court on five occasions.
Mr Walsh wanted the case expedited.
The judge had ruled that Mr Walsh was entitled to all documents associated with the newspaper's crime writer Joanne McElgunn's investigation into assertions and allegations concerning Mr Walsh and Leonard Watters.
He directed that the newspaper provide all documents identifying or referring to any payments made or offered by the newspaper to Watters and statements of any of Ms McElgunn's expenses attached to the story.
Judge O'Neill also held that Mr Walsh was entitled to any documents referring to the booking of a hotel room for Watters in June 2011 and directed discovery of bank statements, text messages, emails and records of phone calls relating to the story.
The judge said his orders also applied to The Sun's Irish Editor Michael McNiff; journalist Gordon Smart; and editor of the newspaper in London Dominic Mohan.
He said the order related to any information or documents they possessed relating to the preparation of the article "Louis Probed Over 'Sex Attack' on Man in Loo".
Mr Walsh has sued Newsgroup Newspapers for damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, for defamation of character arising out of the article that was published in The Sun newspaper on 23 June, 2011, and on their website on the same date.
Judge O'Neill said the articles were to the effect that Mr Walsh was being investigated by the police in respect of a claim by 24-year-old Watters that Mr Walsh had indecently or sexually assaulted him in the toilet of a Dublin nightclub.
Later it transpired that Watters's allegations were false and he had been prosecuted in respect of them.
The judge said the newspaper publishers had unreservedly accepted that the allegations against Mr Walsh were false and that he had been completely exonerated in this respect.
