Case against Deirdre Foley adjourned to end of July

A prosecution case against businesswoman Deirdre Foley stemming from collective redundancies following the takeover of Clerys department store in Dublin has been adjourned to the end of July.

Ms Foley faces a single charge of impeding a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) inspector as well as three counts of breaking protection of employment laws, including failure to notify the Minister for Jobs of collective redundancies.

Her co-defendants are two executives, Mark Redmond and Brendan Cooney, the previous owner of Clerys, OCS Operations Ltd (now in liquidation), and Natrium Ltd which in 2015 took over the store on O'Connell Street.

The case had its third listing at Dublin District Court on Monday before Judge John Brennan.

Prosecuting counsel Breffni Gordon BL told the court the case was likely to take in excess of two weeks and that, more responsibly, he should estimate it would take three weeks of the court’s time.

He said the defence had an application before the Court of Appeal, which would decide whether the District Court prosecutions or another matter should be heard first.

Ms Foley has an application before the Court of Appeal in a bid to overturn a High Court ruling last year dismissing her challenge to the investigation. That matter has been adjourned until next Friday, the District Court heard.

Remy Farrell SC for Ms Foley said he was very keen to proceed with the case as the prosecution had been hanging over his client for several years.

Judge Brennan made a general order in relation to the disclosure of evidence in the cases of all defendants and adjourned the matter to July 28th next.