O'Donoghue v Allied Irish Banks Plc

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Denham C.J.,Dunne J.,O'Malley J.
• Judgment Date: 05 July 2017
• Neutral Citation: [2017] IESCDET 75
• Court: Supreme Court
• Date: 05 July 2017

[2017] IESCDET 75

THE SUPREME COURT

DETERMINATION

Denham C.J.

Dunne J.

O'Malley J.

BETWEEN

VINCENT O'DONOGHUE

APPLICANT

AND

ALLIED IRISH BANKS PLC THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE

THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

IRELAND

AND

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

RESPONDENTS

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL TO WHICH ARTICLE 34.5.3° OF THE CONSTITUTION APPLIES.

Result: The Court refuses leave to the applicant to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Reasons given:

1 This is an application for leave to appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal ( O'Donoghue v. Allied Irish Banks plc and others [2017] IECA 177) in which that Court upheld the order of the High Court (Gilligan J. - O'Donoghue v. AIB Mortgage Banks plc and others [2017] IEHC 344) refusing the reliefs sought by the applicant and striking out his proceedings as being bound to fail.

2 The applicant had sought an order restraining the defendants from taking any steps in pursuit of the disposal of all or part of the Government of Ireland shareholding in the defendant bank. His contention was and is that the sale of the shares would be contrary to the common good and thus unlawful having regard to Article 6 of the Constitution. The applicant believes that it is in the interests of the common good that the shareholding continue to be in public ownership.

3 Article 6 of the Constitution reads as follows:

(1) All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive under God from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good.

(2) These powers of government are exercisable only by or on the authority of the organs of State established by this Constitution.

4 Gilligan J. based his decision on, inter alia, the following findings:

• The Minister's shareholding had been acquired pursuant to the provisions of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008. Those provisions had been held to be constitutional by this court in Collins v. Minister for Finance [2016] IESC 73, and the Act required the Minister to recoup any financial support given to credit institutions so far as possible.

• The order sought by the applicant would sterilise the Minister's shareholding and prevent him from exercising the right of any shareholder to sell his shares.

• The applicant had adduced no evidence that it was in the interest of the public good that the sale be restrained. He...