Latest news with #JusticeGarrettSimons
Irish Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
High Court gives go ahead for Skellig Michael boat trips to resume
The High Court has given the go ahead for boat trips to Skellig Michael off the Co Kerry coast to resume. Mr Justice Garrett Simons granted an application by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to lift an automatic suspension on landing at the Unesco heritage site and former monastic island, which was also used as a location for the Star Wars films, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. The order will allow the OPW to enter into a legally binding contract with each of 15 boat operators who were successful in the public competition for permits to land on the island. The landing season runs from mid-May to the end of September each year. The landing permits were automatically suspended when two unsuccessful bidders brought a High Court challenge to the decision. The OPW then had to apply to the court asking that the stay be lifted pending hearing of the substantive challenge. READ MORE The unsuccessful bidders – Atlantic Endeavour Ltd and SMBT Ltd, trading as Skellig Michael Boat Trips – disagreed with the OPW interpretation of the legal effect of the automatic suspension. They contended that there are a number of mechanisms open whereby landing permits might legitimately be granted to the successful tenderers for the balance of the 2025 season, while preserving their own right to challenge the allocation of landing permits for the 2026 and subsequent seasons. Mr Justice Simons heard the application to lift the suspension this week and on Thursday ordered that it be lifted. He said the practical effect of this order is that it will now be legally permissible for the OPW to issue landing permits to the 15 successful tenderers for the balance of the 2025 season. This will allow for the commencement of passenger landings at Skellig Michael, or Sceilg Mhichíl in Irish. He said his judgment entails no finding whatsoever on whether the outcome of the tender process allows the OPW to confine the right to land passengers on Sceilg Mhichíl to the 15 successful tenderers for a five-year period. The proper interpretation of the request for tender and associated documentation, and the legal consequences of the tender process, remain open for debate at the trial of the action, he said. The judgment, he said 'goes no further' than deciding that the execution of concession contracts does not result in the crystallisation of a contractual right on the part of the successful tenderers to exclusive landing rights for the 2026 and subsequent seasons. He said the significance of this finding is that the unsuccessful tenderers are not relegated to a claim for certain damages in respect of the 2026 and subsequent seasons. The only right which the OPW seeks to translate into a concluded contract, before the determination of the full High Court challenge, is confined to the 2025 landing season, the judge said. He said he was listing the substantive action for the alleged breaches of the public procurement legislation in July.
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Donegal garda loses High Court challenge to suspension over alleged inappropriate relationship
Donegal-based Garda Keith Harrison has lost a High Court challenge to his ongoing suspension for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a woman he had dealt with while investigating alleged domestic abuse. Gda Harrison, who had given evidence at the Disclosures Tribunal investigating claims by Garda whistleblowers, was suspended in 2021 over the alleged inappropriate relationship. The suspension has been extended every three months since then. In March last year he started a High Court challenge to a Garda board of inquiry that was established to investigate the allegations against him. He claimed a belated disclosure of a decision not to prosecute the person accused of domestic abuse represented a significant change in circumstances that would trigger a requirement to notify him and invite submissions from him on the implications of that decision for his suspension. READ MORE He also claimed, among other complaints, that a particular witness statement had not been disclosed to his side until the board of inquiry hearing took place. Gda Harrison, who is stationed in Milford, also said the series of suspension extensions every three months was unlawful. He denied any wrongdoing, saying the relationship with the woman involved was consensual and has now ended. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris opposed the challenge. On Thursday, Mr Justice Garrett Simons dismissed the case after finding Gda Harrison's continuing suspension was lawful. Considering the 'seriousness of the breaches of discipline alleged and the apparent strength of the evidence underlying those allegations', the judge said, it was 'reasonable and rational' for the suspension to be extended at each three-month review. He was satisfied the belated disclosure of the June 2020 decision not to pursue a criminal prosecution was not a significant change that would to trigger a requirement to notify him. The essence of the alleged breach of discipline remained the same, he said. The challenge to the proposed procedures of the board of inquiry was premature and it could not be said, at this remove, that the process has gone irretrievably wrong, the judge said. The disciplinary process arose after the woman involved allegedly reported to Gda Harrison in 2019 that she was a victim of assault and domestic abuse. It is claimed he entered into a relationship with her within weeks. The judge said the alleged breach of discipline was that this was contrary to the professional duty of care for a garda to engage in a sexual relationship with a person who has made a complaint of domestic abuse to that officer. The alleged breach of discipline was directed towards 'the power dynamic between a person making a complaint of domestic abuse and the garda to whom that complaint is made', he said. The decision not the prosecute the person alleged to have carried out the abuse did 'not materially affect any assessment of the seriousness of the alleged breach of discipline', he said. Gda Harrison was one of several members of the force to appear before the Disclosures Tribunal. In 2017 and 2018, the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, rejected allegations made by him.
