Supreme Court Upholds The Mandatory Reporting Obligation For Serious Crimes

The Supreme Court has delivered an important judgment in Sweeney v Ireland [2019] IESC 39. In a leap frog appeal, the High Court order of 21 February 2018 has been overturned and the constitutionality of section 9(1)(b) of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 (the "1998 Act") upheld. The High Court had previously held that the offence of withholding information created under section 9(1)(b) of the 1998 Act constituted an infringement on the constitutionally protected right to silence and the privilege against self-incrimination. The Supreme Court judgment can be found here.

The Supreme Court's decision has wider impact in the context of other provisions of Irish law which criminalise failures to report certain offences, including for example, under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2011 ("Section 19"). Section 19, in certain circumstances, compels persons to report information relating to a range of white collar offences and other crimes to An Garda Siochana. Particularly since the implementation of the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018, Section 19 reporting requirements have been considered closely by companies, board...