130 / 196
therefore make an order under Article 40 of the Con-
stitution directing the governor of Portlaoise Prison to
produce Mr. Langan before the President of the High
Court on June 10th and to certify in writing the
grounds of his detention.
He said that when this matter was in the High Court
it appeared that the President was left under the
impression that Mr. Langan had voluntarily discharg-
ed his solicitor. Mr. Langan, said the Chief Justice,
should have a solicitor assigned to bring senior and
junior counsel to argue the matter on his behalf.
The court was unanimous in its decision.
(In re Langan—Supreme Court—unreported—26th
May 1971).
PRESIDENT CRITICAL OF MINISTER S
ACTION IN MEAT RESEARCH UNIT CASE
In a reserved judgment yesterday, the President of the
High Court, Mr. Justice O'Keeffe, dismissed an action
by five meat companies against the Minister for Agri-
culture over a proposal to establish a meat research
unit.
The companies, Premier Meat Packers (Ireland),
Ltd., C.F.U. Meats Ltd., Clover Meats Ltd., Roscrea
Meat Products Ltd., and Edmund Burke and Sons,
Ltd., had sought the return of moneys which they
claimed were collected from them to establish a meat
research unit.
They claimed that a levy was imposed on animals
slaughtered at all registered meat export premises and
bacon factories to finance a meat research unit which
was to be established by the Irish Fresh Meat Export-
ers' Society and the Beef Canners' Advisory Associa-
tion. They said that no such unit was established, nor
was it now intended to establish one.
The Minister, in his defence, claimed that his Depart-
ment and An Foras Taluntais had always been willing
to help in establishing the unit and he denied that
the purpose for which the levies had been collected had
failed, or that he held them in trust for the plaintiffs.
He claimed that the moneys should be disposed of for
the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the
Minister for Finance might direct.
Judge's comments
The President, however, made an order declaring
that the statutory instruments 36 and 37 be laid before
the Houses of the Oireachtas and he commented that
he considered that there was an obligation on the Minis-
ter, even at this late stage, to comply with the law by
laying these regulations before each House of the
Oireachtas, so that each House might consider whether
they should be allowed to stand or be annulled by
resolution. Apart from this, he considered that the
plaintiffs were entitled to no relief in the action.
The President continued; "The position taken up by
the Minister may be strictly in accordance with the
statutes, that is to say, that the fees collected from the
traders concerned are to be applied for the benefit of
the Exchequer in such a manner as the Minister for
Finance may direct. In other words, these fees may be
treated as part of the general revenue of the State and
applied for any purpose directed by the Minister for
Finance, regardless of the purpose outlined to the
Dail and Seanad Eireann when resolutions approving
of the draft regulations were passed.
"Reliance on this action seems to me to be a gross
breach of faith on the part of the Minister towards
the traders concerned at whose instance the regulations
were made and the Houses of the Oireachtas who
approved the draft regulations on the basis of the Min-
ister's statements in each House. Nonetheless, it would
seem that these fees, received for a very special pur-
pose, have been applied to other purposes, after being
for a period retained in the suspense account.
Put into revenue
"A strange position arises in regard to these moneys.
They were, as I believe, impressed with a trust that
they should be applied in a particular way and were
collected on the representation that they would be so
applied. Under the relevant legislation, the approval of
Seanad Eireann was required before the increased levies
could be imposed.
"One might think that it would be open to me at this
stage to make a declaration that they are still held on
the trust referred to, but it appears that they have been
put into the general revenue of the State and dealt
with each year under its Appropriation Act, so that by
legislation they have been silently diverted from the
purpose for which they were collected and applied in
other ways.
"I should like to think that when a Minister ignores
a statutory direction of a very express kind as men-
tioned, the result would be that the regulations would
be regarded as null and void
ab initio
, but I do not
think that I should be justified, on the authorities such
as they are, in so holding."
The Irish Independent
(31st July, 1971)
FORMER JUDGE FINED £75 OVER
DEATH CRASH
Lord Hodson, 75, a former Lord of Appeal, was fined
£75 and had his driving licence endorsed at Henley-
on-Thames, Oxon, yesterday after being found guilty
of careless driving immediately before a crash in which
a 20-year-old girl was killed.
M Peter Bickerton, chairman of the magistrates,
said they had decided against disqualification after
taking into account Lord Hondon's "wonderful" driv-
ing record : More than 50 years without an accident
and only one minor previous conviction.
Lord Hodson, of Rotherfield Greys, Oxon, had
denied driving his Austin van carelessly on the Henley-
Oxon road shortly after darkness on February 21.
Mr. Bickerton and two women magistrates also
found him guilty of failing to comply with a "give
way" sign as he joined a main road from a side road,
but they imposed no second penalty.
Miss Sally Billington, a hairdresser of Ealing, died
in "an unusually violent collision" between Lord Hod-
son's car and a Morris Mini driven by her friend
John Carlton, 21.
Mr. Morison, counsel defending said that Lord Hod-
son "very much regretted" the accident. It was a very
great tragedy. But there was another tragedy of a differ-
ent sort in the case—lack of evidence.
The driver of a car which had been overtaken by
Mr. Carlton just before the collision and who must
have been able to assist the court had not come for-
ward despite police appeals. They were sure that the
driver's evidence would have been favourable to Lord
Hodson.
Mr. Carlton said he had no recollection after over-
taking the last of three cars on a dual carriageway. He
had his headlights on and his speed—described by the
132