Changes to the Courts system.

Court of Appeal

On Friday 4^th of October 2013 there was a referendum to change the constitution of Ireland. It concerned the abolishment of the Irish senate and the establishment of a court of appeal and to change the way in which the Supreme Court issues a decision where it is asked to decide whether a law is constitutional. The people of Ireland voted to keep the Irish senate and establish a court of appeal. Currently in Ireland the courts system consists of the district court, circuit court, high court and the Supreme Court. The District Court being the lowest level and Supreme Court being the highest level Court.

The courts system in Ireland also includes a court of criminal appeal. This court hears criminal appeals from the high court, the circuit court and the special criminal court. In the constitution of Ireland the high court and the Supreme Court are set out. The court of appeal will be set up at a level between the Supreme Court and the high court. Currently in Ireland there is very long delays in appeals being heard in the supreme court, when the court of appeal is established it will hear the majority of appeals which at present are heard in the Supreme Court .It will hear most of the appeals from the high court and if certain laws are passed it will have the jurisdiction to hear appeals from the other courts in Ireland.

The decision from the court of appeal will be final. However in some cases there may be an appeal from the court of appeal to the supreme court and there will also be appeals from the high court which will go straight to the supreme court to be heard. The Supreme Court will hear appeals from the court of appeal if the decision concerns a matter which is of public importance or in the best interests of justice. Also the supreme court will hear appeals directly from the high court where it is in the interests of the general public or the decision is a matter if importance the public. The court of appeal will have the jurisdiction to hear cases on whether a law is constitutional or unconstitutional.

A change to the “one judgement” rule

When the supreme court of Ireland is sitting there must be at least five judges when a decision is being made on whether a law is constitutional or unconstitutional. Currently the constitution states that the decision must be given by one judge and if the other judges disagree it is not known and it is not said why they disagree. Since the referendum has been passed the one judgement rule is going to be removed and each judge will have the opportunity to give a judgement on whether they agree or not and if they disagree they can give reasons why they do so. If the President decides to refer a bill to the Supreme Court to check its validity as to its constitutionality this has not changed since the passing of this referendum. In these circumstances a decision will only be given by one judge.


Jack Murphy, GCD FLAC.