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UNREPORTED IRISH CASES
Firm loses claim lor damages
An action by Irish Paper Sacks Ltd., Ballymount
Road, Dublin, against John Sisk and Son (Dublin) Ltd,
Wilton Works, Naas Road, Dublin, for £1,183 damages
arising from the closure of a paper sack factory because
of a break in an underground cable supplying power
to the factory was dismissed by the President of the
High Court, Mr. Justice O'Keeffe.
It had been alleged by the plaintiffs that Mezsrs. Sisk
damaged the cable when laying a concrete access road
to the industrial site at Ballymount Road. The factory
was left without power for 40 hours from about 3.10
p.m. on November 23, 1970, to 7.25 a.m. on November
25, and it had to close down. They listed their loss as
£270 for labour, £650 for overheads and £263 profit.
The
President,
in his reserved judgment, said that the
principle to be derived from the authorties put forward
by the defence was that the plantiff, suing for damages,
suffered as a result of an act of omission of the defen-
dant, could not recover as the act of omission did not
directly injure the plaintiff's person or property, but
merely caused consequential loss. The plaintiff had
failed to establish that the injury to the cable had been
caused by any act of the defendant and on this ground
the defendant was entitled to succeed.
JouraKst and editor fined for contempt of court
Words likely to prejudice trial
A fine of £100 was imposed in the H
:
gh Court in Dublin
on Proinsias MacAonghusa, journalist and broadcaster,
and fines of £50 each were imposed on Hibernia
National 'Review Ltd and John Mulcahy, editor of
Hibernia
, for contempt of court.
They had been brought before the court on a con-
ditional order for attachment applied for by the Attorney
General in relation ito an article published in
Hibernia
and written by Mr. MacAonghusa in the issue dated
April 2nd-16th, 1971, concerning the custody of Patrick
Francis Keane in Mountjoy Prison.
Mr. Justice Pringle discharged conditional orders of
attachment against all three in relation to another article
by Mr. MacAonghusa in
Hibernia
in the issue of March
5th-18th, 1971, regarding the theft of guns from
Drogheda Garda Station.
In his article in the magazine on April 2nd-16th, Mr.
MacAonghusa wrote: " Frank Keane is a political
prisoner. But even if he were a criminal prisoner it
would be outrageous that he should be tortured. So
far, not one T.D. has queried the Minister for Justice
in the Dail about this."
Mr. Justice Pringle, in his reserved judgment, said:
44
After the most careful consideration, I have come to
the conclusion that the statement that Keane was a
political prisoner not only tended but was likely, in fact,
to prejudice a juror or the public as to the nature of
the proceedings."
Conditions of detention already widely publicised
He said that in regard to the penalty to be imposed
he considered the nature of the periodical in which the
article appeared and the fact that the purpose of the
article was to call attention to and protest against the
conditions under which Keane was being detained
pending trial. This had already been widely publicised
in the daily papers and protested against publicly by a
number of prominent citizens without any effect.
Mr. Justice Pringle added: " I also take into
account the fact that neither Mr. Mulcahy nor Mr.
MacAonghus had any intention of interfering with the
trial, and, in regard to Mr. Mulcahy, that he had stated
that he would greatly regret if any action on his part
were to have any such effect, and that his counsel had
stated that, if he were held to have been in contempt,
he apologised to the court."
He said the order of the court would be that the cause
shown would be disallowed and the conditional order
made absolute. And he imposed the fines in lieu of
orders for attachment. In default of payment of the
fines within one month, orders for attachment would
be issued.
Earlier in his judgment, Mr. Justice Pringle said in
regard to the contempt of court issue, he must ask
himself whether the article would tend or be calculated
to affect the mind of a juryman who had read this
article and who was then empanelled to try Francis
Keane.
Statement declaring accused a political prisoner deemed
contempt
In regard to the allegations of torture, he thought
he must take into account that such a juror might well
have already read the statements in the daily papers on
the allegations made by Mr. Seamus Sorohan, S.C., in
the District Court, and that the juror might, therefore,
have some sympathy for the accused man.
44
1 am inclined to think that any extra sympathy
which might be engendered by reading the references in
this article to torture would not be sufficient to consti-
tute such an interference with the course of justice as to
amount to contempt of court.
44
In regard, however, to the statement that Keane
was a political prisoner, I am satisfied that this state-
ment made by a responsible and well-known journalist
who held himself out as knowing the facts would not
only tend to prejudice a potential juror either in favour
of the accused or against him, according to the political
views of the juror, but would also tend to mislead him
as to the nature of the trial."
In his opinion this statement tended or was calculated
to interfere with the course of justice and was a
contempt of court.
In a second judgment, Mr. Justice Pringle dealt with
the application to make absolute orders of attachment
relating to the article dealing with the theft of guns
from Drogheda Garda Station.
Accused states he was beaten up at instigation of Special
Branch
In the course of the article complained of by the
Attorney General, Mr. MacAonghusa wrote: "Donn-
chadh Mac Raghnaill the Drogheda school teacher,
was beaten up at the instigation of Special Branch
detectives. The detectives hoped that Mr. Mac Raghnaill
would be terrified into telling his assailants the location
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