An environmental activist who told gardaí he feared for his safety after lodging planning objections against a quarry is being sued by the quarry owner for defamation.
Kieran Cummins complained to An Garda Síochána that he was suffering harassment and intimidation by Keegan Quarries as a result of his objections to its operations.
Keegan Quarries want the High Court to order gardaí to hand over records of this complaint so they can pursue defamation proceedings on the basis of it.
Their request was heard before Judge Mícheál O’Higgins in the High Court on Thursday and a ruling is to follow next month.
READ MORE
The case is significant because it could have implications for any individual making a confidential complaint to gardaí if the complaint could subsequently be disclosed and used in defamation proceedings.
Cummins, of Rathmolyon, Co Meath, founder of the Eco Advocacy group, has made numerous challenges over a decade to the Keegan Quarries operations in Co Meath.
In April 2021, he went to gardaí to report a series of incidents he believed were linked to his activism, and a detective visited John Keegan, principal of Keegan Quarries, to ask about them.
The court heard Cummins expressed concern for his safety and asked gardaí if he could have a personal tracer tag or panic button in case he needed help.
He referenced the 2016 murder of Co Dublin man Michael McCoy, who was found beaten to death in woodlands near his Brittas home.
The case remains unsolved but gardaí have probed links to his environmental activism.
Despite knowing the thrust of Cummins’ complaints, Keegan Quarries say they need the formal Garda record to properly pursue the defamation case.
“The plaintiff’s claim is for defamation and malicious falsehood arising from a criminal complaint,” said counsel for Keegan Quarries, Frank Crean.
“We say this is the crucial document or documents in the plaintiff’s case.
“We cannot identify the malice until we see what he said.”
John Rogers, counsel for Cummins who is opposing the application for discovery, questioned the logic of Keegan Quarries’ application.
“He (Keegan) brought a defamation claim in relation to a complaint he never saw and he is now in retrospect trying to put it right,” said Rogers.
O’Higgins raised questions around the wider implications of Keegan Quarries’ request if he were to grant it.
“If it would be understood that a party’s complaint to An Garda Siochána would be subject to disclosure, does it not lead to a risk of complainants being less likely to come forward?” he said.
This issue has also been raised by United Nations special rapporteur on environmental defenders, Michel Forst, who has twice written to the Government insisting the application for discovery be opposed. The Garda Commissioner has not opposed it.
“If members of the public cannot complain to the police without fear that the alleged perpetrator will get access to their confidential police complaint, this will have a serious chilling effect,” Forst wrote.
Crean said the status of a confidential complaint depended on the circumstances. “I do not think it’s right to say a criminal complaint is hermetically sealed,” he said.
He argued that Cummins’ complaint did not lead to a prosecution so normal caution around documents relating to live investigations did not apply.
Rogers said the issue remained live as Cummins’ concerns were not allayed, and while gardaí had offered to send a crime-prevention officer to discuss personal safety advice, there was no such officer in the district.
O’Higgins said he would endeavour to deliver a ruling on the issue on March 18th.
