Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is seeking to prevent two of his senior officers from having to give evidence in Gerry Adams’s upcoming libel case against the BBC.
Witness summonses and subpoenas have been issued to a superintendent and a Garda inspector requiring them to give evidence at the civil trial due to start before a jury next Tuesday, the High Court heard on Friday.
The subpoena orders were secured by Mr Adams’s legal team.
Following a brief application, Mr Justice Mark Heslin granted the Garda chief permission to try to block the requirement for the two gardaí to appear. The judge said such a motion can be brought on the opening date of the High Court defamation action.
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The application came ex parte, meaning only the Garda Commissioner was represented in the court.
In his case initiated seven years ago, Mr Adams alleges the BBC defamed him by falsely claiming he sanctioned the killing of ex-Sinn Féin official Denis Donaldson (55), who worked for decades as a British spy.
Donaldson was shot dead inside an isolated cottage near Glenties, Co Donegal, in April 2006, some months after being exposed as an MI5 agent.
Mr Adams’s case takes issue with allegations against him being made in a 2016 BBC Spotlight programme and in an article on the broadcaster’s website. The claims were made by an anonymous source, referred to as “Martin”, who claimed to be a paid British agent while an IRA member.
The court has heard the broadcaster will argue Mr Adams was a leading member of the IRA during its campaign of violence throughout the Troubles and that he had a history of not condemning the killing of informers.
Mr Adams has at all times denied any involvement in Mr Donaldson’s death, which dissident republicans claimed responsibility for in 2009. He claims all allegations connecting him or the IRA to the death are attempts to discredit republicans.
The trial before a High Court jury and Mr Justice Alexander Owens is due to last two weeks.
Mr Adams is represented by Tom Hogan SC, Declan Doyle SC and John Kerr.
Former attorney general Paul Gallagher SC, Eoin McCullough SC and Hugh McDowell appear for the BBC.
