Garde appears regularly on radio and TV discussing cults in Ireland on behalf of Dialogue Ireland, and speaks in secondary schools in Ireland on the dangers of cults.[1][5][6][7]
Legal cases involving Garde
In July 2012, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan ordered Garde and Sunday World journalist Nicola Tallant to appear in United States District Court for the District of Colorado to give evidence in Cornec v. Morrice and Others (2012) and adjourned for a month to allow them to apply the orders to be set aside. The court heard how both were "party to communications relevant to the Colorado proceedings." It was claimed Tallant could be urged to reveal the sources for her stories.[8][9]
In September 2012, the Irish High Court ruled that Garde and Nicola Tallant did not have to give evidence. Mr Justice Gerard Hogan set aside orders saying "if, as she maintains, Mr Quinn holds unorthodox religious views and is effectively the leader of a religious cult which has used psychological techniques as a means of controlling gullible adherents, the media are entitled to educate public opinion in this regard."[10][11][12][13]
In September 2018, it was reported that defamation proceedings were issued against Random House Group by Paul Tweed over a suggestion in the Dan Brown book Origin that a cult-monitoring group in Ireland took money to fight a Catholic sect. The reference only appears in first-editions and was removed for the paperback.[14][15]
^Cornec v Susan Morrice & Ors (High Court (Ireland) 18 September 2012) ("It follows, therefore, that Mr. Garde has a similar interest to that of Ms. Tallant in ensuring that his sources are likewise protected. Of course, just as with Ms. Tallant, he is plainly a relevant witness to the Colorado litigation. Ms. Skinner (and others associated with Mr. Cornec) also seems to have either met with or corresponded with him. But his evidence would also be substantially confirmatory of material already in possession of Ms. Morrice. There are, moreover, no strong competing arguments to the contrary which would weigh against the public interest in ensuring that Mr. Garde is free from disclosing his sources or the contents of these discussions."), Text.