THE HIGH COURT has dismissed an appeal by businessman Denis O’Brien against a decision by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) following a data request he made under GDPR to PR firm Red Flag Consulting.

The backdrop to the case is the long-running litigation between O’Brien and Red Flag, initiated in 2015, concerning a dossier prepared by Red Flag on behalf of an unidentified client.

In 2018, O’Brien sought access to all personal data relating to him from Red Flag, but the firm provided only limited data.

As part of the aforementioned litigation, Red Flag said that it had a duty of confidentiality to its client.

O’Brien lodged a complaint to the DPC on 2 July 2020 and, after an extensive written process, the DPC upheld Red Flag’s stance.

The DPC said that Red Flag had “not applied a blanket refusal” but that its refusal to provide a copy of personal data that might reveal the identity of its client was justified in the context of protecting the right to confidentiality.

O’Brien challenged this decision on a number of grounds but a judgement released this evening by Justice Siobhán Lankford said that O’Brien “has not succeeded on any of the grounds argued before the Court”.

The judge also ordered that O’Brien bear the costs of the action incurred by both the DPC and Red Flag.

The Attorney General was also joined to the case on the judge’s request but Justice Lankford said that because the argument was novel “and involved a point of some public importance”, she directed that the AG should bear his own costs.