Marc MacSharry settles action against State's political standards and ethics watchdog

High Court reporters

Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry has settled his High Court action against the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) over what he alleged was the unlawfully disclosure of his personal and private information.

In the proceedings Mr MacSharry had sought various orders, declarations and damages against Sipo, the independent watchdog that supervises compliance with legislation concerning ethical issues regarding politicians, office holders and civil servants.

According to court documents in the case, the TD alleged that Sipo had unlawfully processed his data, in contravention of GDPR, the 2018 Data Protection Act, and the 2014 Freedom of Information Act.

Sipo's actions, he further claimed, had deprived him of his right to privacy as guaranteed under the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

His action had been listed for hearing before the High Court next month.

However, when the matter was briefly mentioned before Mr Justice Mark Sanfey on Thursday, the court was told that the TD's action had been fully resolved and was not proceeding.

As part of the settlement, the court agreed to make several declarations in favour of Mr MacSharry.

He has been a TD for Sligo-Leitrim since 2016, first for Fianna Fáil, but now sits as an Independent.

The declarations include that Sipo unlawfully processed the TD's personal data in contravention of the EU General Data Protection Regulation and in particular of Article 6 of the 2018 Data Protection Act.

The court also made a declaration that, in contravention of various sections of the Freedom of Information Act, Sipo had unlawfully disclosed the plaintiff's confidential and personal information.

The court further made declarations that Sipo had breached his constitutional and ECHR rights to privacy, and had acted in breach of his confidence.

The court also heard that Mr MacSharry, who was represented in the proceedings by Darren Lehane SC and Jack Tchrakian BL, is to be paid legal costs he incurred in bringing the action up to a date in January 2024.

Gary Compton BL, for the defendant, said his client was consenting to the orders and declarations.

No further details of the settlement, which is understood to be confidential, was revealed in open court.

The judge welcomed the resolution of the action, and after granting the declarations and orders struck out the proceedings.