Breifne O’Brien seeking to pursue Supreme Court appeal

Former businessman Breifne O’Brien, who was jailed for inducing others to advance millions of euro to him for investment in bogus property deals, is seeking to pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The 54-year-old, with an address at Monkstown Grove, Monkstown, Co Dublin, had pleaded guilty to 14 sample counts of making a gain or causing a loss by deception or theft of around €8.5 million between 2003 and 2008.

He was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to seven years imprisonment by Judge Patricia Ryan on October 8th, 2014.

O'Brien had an appeal against sentence dismissed last December with the Court of Appeal holding that adequate consideration was given to the mitigating factors and while the sentence was substantial, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan had said, the Circuit Court judge was correct in identifying seven years as an appropriate one.

Application

During case management procedures in the Court of Appeal on Friday , Barry Murphy BL, for O’Brien sought legal aid to pursue an application to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal his unsuccessful appeal against the sentence.

In May, lawyers for Joe O’Reilly sought legal aid to pursue a similar application to the Supreme Court to appeal the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of a bid to have his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice. O’Reilly was found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife at their home in the Naul, Co Dublin.

Mr Justice George Birmingham, who oversees the procedural management of cases through the court on his own, indicated in May that three judges would have to deal with O'Reilly's application because it was the first such legal aid application to come before the Court of Appeal under new jurisdiction.

Mr Justice Birmingham had said there wasn’t an automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court, as there had been before the Court of Appeal was established, and as such O’Reilly’s application was not routine.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions in O'Brien's case, Lorcan Staines BL, referred to the O'Reilly case on Friday and said three judges would have to hear O'Brien's application.

Mr Justice Birmingham said on Friday that the O’Brien matter could be listed for mention on the same date as O’Reilly when there will be a “court of three” judges, on July 22nd.

O’Brien’s book of appeal was lodged with the Supreme Court on May 25, 2016.

He was not in court for the procedural matter.

Mr Justice Birmingham asked if anybody knew what the present situation was with the O’Reilly matter. However, Mr Staines, who was not in that case, said he did not know.