A safeguarding panel in the multi-million Northern Ireland Football Fund was unfairly abandoned following objections to the inclusion of high-profile manager David Jeffrey, the High Court heard today.
Lawyers for Crusaders FC and Derry City FC claimed the process became unlawful after the opposition to Mr Jeffrey’s selection by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.
Both clubs are challenging their exclusion from stage two of the investment programme.
The omission amounted to a breach of a procedural legitimate expectation, a judge was told.
Aimed at improving stadiums and infrastructure across Northern Ireland, the Stormont Executive allocated an initial £36.2m budget to the Football Fund.
Out of 41clubs eligible to apply, a total of 38 bids were submitted during the first phase of the process.
Three tiers of potential funding were available based on the scale of projects.
In September last year Mr Lyons announced that 20 clubs from across Northern Ireland had been successful in reaching the next stage.
North Belfast side Crusaders, who compete in the Irish Premiership, and League of Ireland outfit Derry City, both missed out completely.
The two clubs are now seeking a judicial review of the process, alleging that the Department for Communities’ competition process was flawed.
The court heard that a specialist sectoral panel of experts was supposed to advise the Minister on submitted bids after they had been scored and ranked.
It was claimed the Department unlawfully removed that safeguarding stage after funding applications closed.
Citing affidavit evidence, Stephen Toal KC said Mr Lyons verbally indicated he wanted Mr Jeffrey, the former player, pundit and newly appointed Portadown manager, as one of two independent members on the panel.
Gary McAllister, chairman of the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs, was to be his second pick.
Objections to the two proposed appointments were raised by Northern Ireland Football League Chief Executive Gerard Lawlor and Irish FA boss Graham Fitzgerald respectively.
Further concerns that Mr Jeffrey may be considered biased emerged later when he wrote a newspaper opinion piece about Glentoran FC’s entitlement to stadium funding.
Mr Toal argued that the Department identified alternative independent candidates for the sectoral panel, but encountered three months of “ministerial silence” on the potential solution which halted the process.
“The Department then moved towards abandonment of the panel as a result of the Minister’s disengagement,” he submitted.
“That is not a lawful justification for departing from a published process.”
Stressing the panel’s role as a safeguard for decision-making and protecting public confidence, the barrister claimed a failure to show legally adequate reasons for changing the rules after the event.
“The Applicants invite the court to quash the decision not to convene the sectoral panel and the consequential decision not to progress (Crusaders and DerryCity).”
Tony McGleenan KC, for the Department, described the case as a narrow challenge centred on an alleged breach of the procedural legitimate expectation.
“The legal question is whether or not a Minister can lawfully change his mind, or resile from a position,” he said.
“The answer at a theoretical level is yes, a Minister can.”
Mr McGleenan denied any illegality around the months of ministerial inactivity over requests to approach the two suggested alternative independent candidates.
“There is nothing particularly striking about a Minister not responding… this can go on for very protracted periods and it is not the only matter on his desk.”
Reserving judgment following submissions, Mr Justice Fowler pledged to rule on the challenge as soon as possible.