Former Independent News & Media (INM) chairman Leslie Buckley has failed in an application seeking to revoke the appointment of inspectors investigating a major suspected data breach at the company in 2014.
Mr Buckley wanted the appointment of barrister Sean Gillane SC and solicitor Richard Fleck revoked on grounds of “objective bias”, claiming they omitted key evidence from a draft interim report.
However, the application has been rejected by the High Court with Mr Justice Garrett Simons finding it had to be refused as it was irreconcilable with case law of the Supreme Court.
The decision paves the way for the inspectors to continue their investigations.
INM will not be hit with a fine or other regulatory sanction despite the Data Protection Commission (DPC) making a number of findings against the company in relation a 2014 data breach.
The DPC said the company s actions in a data security incident at the heart of the probe were not in compliance with data protection law.
The lack of fine or other penalty is because the case dated before the introduction of the tough General Data Protection Directive (GDPR), the DPC said.
The case dates back to 2014 when data relating to a number of former and then current staff at INM, including journalists and executives as well as external advisors, was allegedly removed from the company s premises and interrogated by outside contractors at the direction of then INM chairman Leslie Buckley.