THE SUPREME COURT has adjourned a case seeking to challenge the legality of the promissory note issued to the former Anglo Irish Bank and the powers of the Minister for Finance as four TDs sought to join the appeal this morning.
Businessman David Hall is attempting to appeal a High Court ruling last week that he did not have the legal standing or locus standi to challenge the legality of the €3.06 billion promissory note payment that was due at the end of next month.
His case uses the example of the promissory note but Hall says it concerns various financial acts passed in recent years which he said give the Minister for Finance powers on spending that should be with the Dáil.
The case has been adjourned until next Friday following a hearing this morning where three independent TDs – Mick Wallace, Luke Ming Flanagan, Clare Daly – and People Before Profit TD Joan Collins were in the Supreme Court today in an attempt join the case.
Chief Justice Susan Denham said that the deputies must first apply to join the case but noted that in light of the events overnight there may be a “mootness” to the case, RTÉ reports.
The payment of the note to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation is now in doubt in light of events overnight where the Dáil voted to put IBRC into liquidation with a view to securing agreement from the European Central Bank to swap the notes for long-term bonds.
Hall said today that nothing has changed and that his case concerns fundamental constitutional questions concerning the powers of the Minister and the Oireachtas and the ability for those decisions to be challenged.
High Court President Justice Nicholas Kearns ruled last week that Hall did not have the standing, or what is known in legal parlance as locus standi, to take the case, saying any challenge to the payment would need to be mounted by a member of the Dáil.
Hall had argued that the controversial and much disputed payment was illegal as the issuing of the €31 billion in promissory notes in respect of the now defunct Anglo three years was illegal as it was not approved by a Dáil vote.
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