Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) 3 December 1992

In Case C-86/90, REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty by the Supreme Court of Ireland for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT (Third Chamber), composed of: M. Zuleeg, President of the Chamber, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida and F. Grévisse, Judges, Advocate General: E G. Jacobs, Registrar: D. Triantafyllou, Administrator,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of: Thomas A. O'Brien, by Derrick Wyatt, Barrister, and Brian A. Carroll, Solicitor, Ireland, by Louis J. Dockery, Chief State Solicitor, acting as Agent, the United Kingdom, by Rosemarie M. Caudwell, of the Treasury Solicitor's Department, acting as Agent, the Commission of the European Communities, by Patrick Hetsch and Christopher Docksey, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Thomas A. O'Brien, represented by Derrick Wyatt and J. McBratney, Barristers, of Ireland, represented by Hugh Geoghegan, Senior Counsel, and Brian Lenihan, Barrister, of the United Kingdom, represented by David Anderson, Barrister, and of the Commission of the European Communities, at the hearing on 27 February 1992,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 8 April 1992,

gives the following

Judgment

Costs

1 Language of the case: English.