Failed Court Cases To Cost O’Brien Several Michael Lowrys

THE Supreme Court has ruled today that businessman Denis O’Brien’s privacy was not breached during a 2015 debate about the sale of Siteserv, making this the second failed legal action in a matter of days which could cost the Maltese native several Michael Lowrys in legal fees.

Last week, a jury, by a majority, dismissed a High Court action alleging he was defamed in articles published in the Sunday Business Post putting an order for costs against Mr O’Brien which could run up to €1m, or the near equivalent of one Michael Lowry (IR£500,000) which in today’s currency based on inflation is €911,000.

“This second loss could cost him even more Michael Lowrys than the Sunday Business Post case,” explained legal expert Terry Heinz. “One Michael Lowry, two Michael Lowry, three Michael Lowry; who knows what this one will cost him, but I’d expect Mr. O’Brien to step down from his full time litigation job after this and focus more on his crumbling empire”.

Dismissing his appeal today, Mr Justice Clarke found that the case against the Committee on Procedure and Privilege amounted to an indirect challenge to the utterances made in the Dáil by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty, and the Social Democrats’ Catherine Murphy during a 2015 debate about the sale of Siteserv, which O’Brien bought for just under 50 Michael Lowrys, at a loss of €105m to IBRC and taxpayers.

“How Mr. O’Brien acquired Siteserv for 115 Michael Lowrys less than the cost price is still unknown, but hopefully we’ll find out once the Cregan report is finally released four years late next year, or when the majority of people will have already forgotten,” added Heinz.