Human Rights Commission joined as participant in convicted killer Patrick Quirke's Supreme Court appeal

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has been joined as a participant in the Supreme Court appeal of Tipperary farmer Patrick Quirke against his conviction for the murder of DJ Bobby Ryan.

Quirke’s appeal, considering two grounds of challenge, over the murder of Mr Ryan, a part time DJ known as Mr Moonlight, has been fixed for a one-day hearing on October 25 next.

When the case came before the court for case management on Thursday, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, sitting with Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley and Ms Justice Marie Baker agreed that the Commission could be joined as an "amicus curiae" or friend of the court.

The Commission, which will pay its own legal costs for participating in the action, will make legal submissions on matters the court has agreed to consider as part of Quirke's appeal.

It says that the appeal raises "a significant human rights issue" regarding the requirement of specific safeguards concerning the seizure and examination of electronic data devices pursuant to a search warrant.

The Commission says that there appears to be a growing consensus in other countries that have a similar legal system as Ireland to the need for such safeguards.

It claims that search warrant powers most commonly used in Ireland expressly require an assessment of whether evidence that can prove guilt may be found.

However such powers are silent in any proportionality considerations that the warrant issuer should have regard to, the Commission adds. 

The Commission says it will make submissions during the appeal on the issue as to the weight that ought to attach to the constitutionally derived right to privacy, when balanced against the community's interest in the prosecution and detection of crime.

It would also make submissions concerning on the law regarding search warrants issued to members of An Garda Siochana seeking to examine any electronic data devices, and the necessity to examine such devices.

The Commission said it will be raising case law and other relevant material which has not been addressed in the legal submissions of the other participants in the appeal.  

There was no opposition from either the DPP or Quirke's lawyers to the Commission's application to be joined.

Ms Justice Dunne, after making directions for the filing of legal submissions by the commissions, said that its inclusion would not add to the length of time it will take to hear the appeal.

The appeal is expected to be heard in one day, the judge said. 

Quirke's Supreme Court appeal focuses on the validity of the search warrant used in the murder investigation and the DPP’s discretion in calling expert witness in a trial.

During the brief hearing Quirke's counsel Bernard Condon SC asked if it would be possible for his client to view the hearing of his appeal via a video link from prison.

An arrangement had been put in place to allow Quirke to view the hearing of appeal when it was before the Court of Appeal. 

Ms Justice Dunne said that the court would see what could be done but added that it may not be possible for Quirke to view to appeal. 

Quirke (51), from Breanshamore, is serving a life sentence after being found guilty in 2019 of murdering the father of two, at Fawnagowan in Co Tipperary. A jury at the Central Criminal Court convicted him by a majority verdict of 10:2 after a 71-day trial.

He had denied murdering Mr Ryan (52), a part-time DJ going by the name ‘Mr Moonlight’, who went missing on June 3rd, 2011, after leaving his partner Mary Lowry’s house early that morning. His body was found nearly two years later in an underground run-off tank on a farm owned by Ms Lowry, which had been leased by Quirke.

It was the prosecution’s case that Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry. It contended that he subsequently “staged” the discovery of Mr Ryan’s body after she tried to terminate his lease.

His appeal, containing 52 grounds, was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in November.