International Law

No Supreme Court judgment yet in journalists? sources appeal

By Eoin

It is said that patience is a virtue. It seems that the Supreme Court is determined to make us all virtuous. As we eagerly await their decision in the appeal from the decision of the High Court in Mahon v Keena [2007] IEHC 348 (23 October 2007), it appears we shall have to hold our souls in patience for a while longer. (I think Ambrose Bierce got it right in the wonderfully acerbic Devil’s Dictionary when he defined “patience” as a “minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue”). From today’s Irish Times:

No ruling yet on journalists’ appeal

Mary Carolan

The Supreme Court may rule next month or in the autumn on the appeal by Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy and public affairs correspondent Colm Keena against a court order requiring them to answer questions from the Mahon tribunal. The questions relate to the source of an article about financial payments to former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The two-day appeal concluded before a five-judge Supreme Court last December, when judgment was reserved. Legislation requires that it be listed for review at regular intervals. The Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray yesterday further listed the matter for July 31st, the last day of the existing law term. Judgment may or may not be given on that date. …

In fact, it is a bumper edition of the paper, so far as the issues of interest on this blog are concerned:

Paisley may lose salary over silence on source
Ian Paisley jnr could be stripped of his MLA?s salary for refusing to comply with a High Court order to reveal a source, it emerged yesterday. …

PSNI action ‘counterproductive’
The actions of the PSNI Chief Constable in seeking to force a Northern Ireland journalist to hand over her notes and other materials relating to the Real IRA are counterproductive, a senior counsel has told a Belfast court. …

Newspaper report on contract ‘a lie’, Leech tells court
Communications consultant Monica Leech told the High Court yesterday she has spent 4½ years trying to clear her name of false allegations that she had an affair with a government minister. …

Full post as published by Cearta on June 12, 2009 (boomark / email).