Judge rules on request around former Quinn plant fire attack

A man whose Co Dublin premises was searched as part of a continuing Garda investigation into a serious fire attack on a plant of the former Quinn group is not entitled to see information supporting the Garda application for a search warrant, the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice David Keane said disclosure of the document carried the risk, not just of compromising an ongoing criminal investigation, but also a potential risk to the life of an informant or informants "and, hence, cannot be lightly weighed".

The information was sought by Francis McGuinness for his civil action against the Garda Commissioner and State over the search of his premises, a yard at Cloghran sued to store haulage vehicles, on August 23rd, 2014. He is suing on grounds including alleged negligence, trespass and breach of his constitutional rights.

Mr McGuinness claims the information was flawed and a citizen is entitled to see any information sworn by a Garda concerning them and proffered in open court subject to such claims of confidentiality or security gardaí may choose to assert.

Informant risk

On Friday, Mr Justice Keane, who had sought the information document for inspection and read it privately, said he accepted arguments by the defendants, represented by Fred Gilligan, the information is material to an ongoing criminal investigation and, if it was disclosed, there was a risk it could lead to identification of a confidential informant or informants.

He ruled both public interest privilege, and informant privilege, applied to the material.

The judge said he had decided against ordering a redacted version of the document both for practical reasons and in light of a Supreme Court decision that, in general, documents material to an ongoing criminal investigation should not be required to be disclosed in civil proceedings.

Previously, the court heard the search arose after an incident in which a Jeep Cherokee vehicle, from which the roof was cut off and which was filled with bull bars and tyres, was set on fire and driven into the lobby of the Quinn packaging plant at Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, on March 13th, 2014.

More than 30 employees were present at the plant at the time and some €600,000 damage was caused, a Garda detective inspector said in an affidavit.

Criminal damage

The incident is among six incidents, dating from August 2011 to March 2014, being investigated involving criminal damage, costing an estimated €3 million, to property owned by or connected to the Aventas group, formerly the Quinn group, of companies. The incidents include damage to the Co Meath residence of Aventas chief executive Paul O’Brien caused when a vehicle was set alight in his driveway on August 8th, 2011.

Similar attacks on properties connected with the Aventas or Quinn Group in Northern Ireland are subject to a joint investigation involving gardaí and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the court heard.

Mr Justice Keane previously noted that, based on Garda evidence, a District Judge found there were reasonable grounds for suspecting evidence of, or relating to, the commission of an arrestable offence was to be found at Hillcrest, Cloghran, Co Dublin.

The warrant described the said evidence as any evidence relating to “motor vehicle 98 D 55178, including the cut-off section of the roof”. The detective inspector had said he believed that vehicle was used in the attack on the Ballyconnell plant of March 13th, 2014, and believed that vehicle was connected with Mr McGuinness.

The detective inspector also said gardaí had relied on the evidence and information of a number of confidential informants whose lives “would be at risk if their identity was made known”.