Social media giant Facebook has refused to name a person making claims about a Donegal waste company allegedly involved in illegal dumping.
A barrister told Falcarragh District Court yesterday he was seeking to find out the identity of a person claiming it could help his case.
Barrister Oisin Clarke is defending Ferry’s Refuse which is facing 12 charges of breaching waste management laws between May, 2010 and June 2011 in Falcarragh.
Mr Clarke said he believes the identity of the Facebook operator could help the case against his client Jim Ferry – one of Donegal’s biggest waste operators.
He told Judge Paul Kelly he had written to Facebook seeking the IP address of the unknown person behind the page but had been told Facebook would only do this if they received a court order.
However criminal courts could not issue such orders, said Mr Clarke.
Judge Kelly asked what the relevance of the Facebook page was to the cases before the court.
“We are concerned that there may be an ulterior motive or a more sinister reason behind this. This page appeared at the same time as the alleged offences making comments about Mr Ferry and Mr Ferry’s business,” the barrister responded.
Mr Clarke insisted that his client believed the Facebook page was relevant to the case and failure to identify the person responsible could deny the right of his client to a fair trial.
“It appears the court does not have jurisdiction (to order Facebook to release the information). We have tried two separate avenues and both have been closed down,” said Mr Clarke.
“In a previous case in 2009 where a third party order was made in the courts, the Supreme Court ruled this was not allowed, so we are left with no means of ordering Facebook to deal with this.”
Patrick McMullin, a solicitor representing Donegal County Council which is bringing the case against Mr Ferry, argued the Facebook claim had no relevance to the case.
Mr McMullin told the judge: “It’s going away into the Neverland. It seems to be another matter being used to delay matters here. It is not a tenable proposition.”
Judge Kelly said he would consider the arguments but warned: “I haven’t heard anything that would suggest that proceeding with the trial would be unfair.
“I’m still struggling to work out how it’s going to affect the trial of this case. It sounds a bit tenuous from where I’m sitting but I will certainly consider it.
Ferry is also facing a number of other charges relating to alleged illegal dumping in Raphoe.
Judge Kelly adjourned the case until next month and said he would set a date for the trial.