Injunctions gained today make it harder for anyone in Ireland to find out about the scandal swirling around the politically connected Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien. He seemingly managed to obtain loans at a bargain rate of 1.25% from IBRC – the nationalised remnant of the bust Anglo-Irish Bank – saving himself tens of millions in interest payments annually on the prevailing 7.5% commercial interest rate. How? Well it appears the loans were agreed verbally. As you do…

As the Irish deputy Catherine Murphy told the Dail “Given that we are talking about outstanding sums of upwards of €500 million, the interest rate applied is not an insignificant issue for the public interest.” The loans relate to a deal for a company called Siteserv, the takeover of which is also in itself highly controversial. Murphy raised the issue and proposed a motion to have the matter more thoroughly examined today in parliament, O’Brien immediately got privacy injunctions preventing the Irish media from reporting what she said in parliament. Unfortunately for Denis O’Brien the whole report is still available under privilege on the official parliament website… Denis O’Brien’s lawyers may have been able to injunct and 404 the Irish media. However this has only lead to the Streisand Effect coming into play…