STATOIL IRELAND Ltd was yesterday refused the right to see the report which said it shouldn't be allowed to take over Jet Oil.
Mr Justice Barron, in the High Court, rejected the company's application to see the full Competition Authority report to the Minister for Enterprise and Employment.
He said the matter was best left to the trial judge at the full hearing which starts on June 5th.
Statoil Ireland Ltd and Conoco Ireland Ltd - trading as Jet Oil - are challenging a ministerial decision to prohibit the takeover.
The Minister, Mr Bruton, made the order in February.
He referred the proposed purchase to the Competition Authority for investigation, last November and it recommended the proposal should not be allowed to proceed.
Yesterday, Mr Richard Nesbitt, SC, for the two companies, said his clients were entitled to see the full Competition Authority report advising against the takeover of Jet Oil, as it was central to the conflict between the parties.
They had received the published report but passages and paragraphs were deleted. The Minister had indicated he would produce it at the trial and base his case on it.
Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for the Minister, claimed the Minister could not make full disclosure as the deleted passages contained commercially sensitive information.
Mr Justice Barron said one of the problems was that to understand the case fully it was necessary to understand what the evidence and issues would be in the ease.
He was not in a position to know what evidence would be admitted by the trial judge.
Therefore, if he acceded to the application, there was a danger he would be giving the plaintiffs something which at the trial would turn out not to be justified.
He had to balance the principle of confidentiality against the principle of justice being seen to be done.
He was not in a position to know what the real impact of a failure to produce the whole report would have on the proceedings.
If it was necessary for them to see the full report, then the trial judge would determine that.
He had to consider that they may suffer embarrassment as they had to prepare their case without knowing what was in the full report.
This latter embarrassment was less important than what would happen if the full report was furnished at this stage.