Case law update -  27 March

Recent superior court cases cover animal welfare, criminal law, European arrest warrants, healthcare, landlord and tenant, personal injuries, planning and development, practice and procedure, prisons, public health and more.

Case Law Archive

 

Animal Welfare 

My Lovely Horse Rescue and ors v Minister for Rural and Community Development, Ireland and The Attorney General; and The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (notice party) 

31/1/2025 No. 2025/4 JR [2025] IEHC 60 

Animal welfare - Application for injunctive relief - Dog breed - XL bully - Injuries and fatalities - Public safety - Legislation - Euthanasia regulations - Injunction sought restraining the Minister for Rural and Community Development from seizing and/or euthanising XL Bully dogs from dog shelters of any relevant bodies within the meaning of the Regulations pending the determination of these proceedings - Applicants also seeking injunction restraining the Minister from enforcing the ban on rehoming of dogs covered by the Regulations - Court refused to grant injunction enforcing the ban on rehoming - Court grants an interlocutory injunction restraining the Minister from seizing and/or euthanizing XL Bully dogs on the basis that they are XL Bully dogs within the meaning of the Regulations 

 

Criminal Law 

People (DPP) v Moran, Philip 

20/1/2025 Nos. 85/2024; 86/2024 [2025] IECA 22 

Criminal law - Sentencing - Offences of burglary, domestic violence, threats to cause harm, criminal damage and intimidation - Respondent's sentences to run concurrently - Applicant seeking a review of the sentence imposed on the respondent on the grounds of undue leniency - Grounds include sentencing judge imposed a sentence which did not adequately reflect the gravity of the offence committed, erred in the weight attached to the mitigating factors in this case, erred in not giving due consideration to the fact that the respondent had relevant previous convictions and erred in imposing concurrent sentences - Sentences imposed quashed - Respondent re-sentenced 

People (DPP) v Byrne, Trevor 

13/1/2025 No. 170/2021 [2025] IECA 18 

Criminal law - Sentencing - Offences of robbery, false imprisonment, threatening to kill, carrying a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and unlawful seizure of a vehicle - Appellant sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment of varying lengths effectively amounting to an aggregate carceral term of 8 and a half years imprisonment to run consecutively to a prior sentence - Appeal against severity of sentence - Sentence imposed excessive and severe - Court erred in imposing a consecutive sentence and further erred failing to have sufficient regard to the  totality principle when imposing sentence - No error of principle found - Appeal dismissed 

 

European Arrest Warrant 

Minister for Justice v Donegan, James 

31/1/2025 No. 2024 EXT 106 [2025] IEHC 53 

European arrest warrant - Applicant seeks an order for the surrender of the respondent to Northern Ireland on foot of one Trade and Co-Operation Agreement warrant - Offences of murder, possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life and membership of a Proscribed Organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army - Respondent objects to his surrender - Correspondence not made out between the offences alleged in the Warrant and offences in this State - Surrender of the respondent would amount to an abuse of process - Delay - Previous decision not to prosecute in this jurisdiction - Timing of the decision to prosecute in the Requesting State - Interference with family rights under Art. 8 of the ECHR - Objections dismissed - Order made for the surrender of the respondent to Northern Ireland 

 

Healthcare 

Sweeney, Shay and The Limerick Private Ltd v Voluntary Health Insurance Board 

31/1/2025 No. 2023/304 [2025] IECA 15 

Healthcare - Security for costs - Health insurance provider - Private hospital - Negotiations with defendant for approval for insurance - Defendant did not approve cover for the medical facility - High Court proceedings - Plaintiff ordered to furnish security for costs in favour of the defendant - Appeal - Trial judge was wrong in not finding that the plaintiffs  impecuniosity was not caused by the defendant - Trial judge was wrong in his approach towards the delay on the part of defendant in seeking security for costs - High Court order affirmed - Appeal dismissed 

 

Landlord and Tenant 

Byrne, Peter and Angela Byrne v Iveagh Trust 

30/1/2025 No. 2012/1729 P [2025] IEHC 40 

Landlord and tenant - Housing - Dispute - Damages claim - Charitable trust - Letting agreement - Condition of dwelling - Condensation, mould and dampness - Problem exacerbated by the installation of ventilation system - Whether plaintiffs' home is fit for human habitation - Defendant's application to dismiss the plaintiffs' claim on account of delay - Reasons for delay - Health issues of plaintiffs' solicitor - Second named plaintiff's ill health - Covid-19 pandemic - Balance of justice - Defendant's application to dismiss claim refused 

 

Personal Injuries 

Duddy, Carmel v Allingham Arms Hotel t/a The Allingham Arms Hotel 

4/2/2025 No. 2019/538 P [2025] IEHC 68 

Personal injuries - Hotel - Social event - Dance floor - Bar area - Drink spillages - Wet floor - Dancing - Slip and fall - Significant wrist injury - Plaintiff worked as a domestic cleaner - Injury caused significant disability - Early retirement - Liability - Evidence that patrons would carry drinks across the dancefloor to a seating area - Whether there was a proper cleaning system in place on the dancefloor - Damages awarded to the plaintiff in the sum of €233,000 

 

Planning and Development 

GOCE Limited v An Bord Pleanála; and Cork County Council and ors [notice parties], in the matter of Section 50, 50A, 50B of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 

31/1/2025 No. 2023/748 JR [2025] IEHC 43 

Planning and development - Application for planning permission for sixteen residential units and associated works - Planning permission granted by Council but refused by An Bord Pleanála on appeal - Held that An Bord Pleanála had misinterpreted Objective ZU18-10 of the Development Plan and that this error went to jurisdiction - Respondent requests to certify two points of law for appeal - Points not argued at the initial hearing - Court decided that it is not desirable in the public interest that an appeal should be brought to the Court of Appeal in respect of either of the points sought to be certified - Leave to appeal refused 

100 Meter Tall Group, Patrick Keogh, Patrick Gorey and John Curran v An Bord Pleanála; and Seamus Madden [notice party], in the matter of Sections 50 and 50A of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) 

31/1/2025 No. 2023/1391 JR [2025] IEHC 42 

Planning and development - Judicial review - Wind turbine - Turbine constructed out of position - Relocation - Grant of retention permission - Challenge on environmental assessment grounds - Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - Appropriate Assessment (AA) - Special Area of Conservation (SAC) - Special Protection Area (SPA) - Potential for cumulative effects with existing and proposed development - Board did not fail to have regard to either the 2006 wind energy guidelines or the 2019 draft or err in its consideration of those documents - Applicants have not demonstrated legal error in relation to the board's consideration of noise and shadow flicker - Alleged defects in EIA or AA are generally inadequately pleaded - Proceedings dismissed 

 

Practice and Procedure 

Khan, Rebeka and Kieran Tarbett v Crosmac Limited, Michael McNamara Architectural Partnership, and ors 

22/1/2025 No. 2011/3790 P [2025] IEHC 57 

Practice and procedure - Construction - Building contractor - Architect - New build house - Construction defect - Finished floor level of the property had been constructed at a level lower than was provided for in the planning permission - Flooding - Damages claim - Disputed matters - Updated particulars of loss - Statement of claim - Plaintiffs motion seeking an order that the plaintiffs are entitled to maintain their claim for the losses set out in the updated particulars of loss - Objections - Plaintiffs granted an order that they are entitled to maintain their claim for the losses set out in the updated particulars of loss 

Vigeland, Arne v Zurich Insurance Public Limited Company - UNAPPROVED 

6/2/2025 No. 2023/327 [2025] IECA 24  

Practice and procedure - Costs order - Non-party costs order - Courts - Jurisdiction - Costs order made against an Irish-registered company in Norway- Whether the appellant was personally liable for the costs order - Enforcement of judgments - Previous proceedings - Appellant's appeal from the decision of the High Court (acceding to the respondent's motion, setting aside service of and dismissing these proceedings on the grounds that under the Lugano Convention (2007) the Norwegian Courts have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the issues raised - Interpretation of Art. 22(5) of the Lugano Convention - Decision of the High Court upheld - Appeal dismissed 

Bowe, John v Sherriff, Rory, Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, Ireland and the Attorney General - UNAPPROVED 

30/1/2025 No. 2024/23 [2025] IECA 14 

Practice and procedure - Personal injury proceedings - Damages claim - Order for discovery - Failure to comply - Order made by the Deputy Master of the High Court striking out defendant's defence - Appeal of decision - High Court order setting aside order made by the Deputy Master - Appeal - Special circumstances - O. 27 r. 15(2) of the RSC - Solicitor health issues - Covid-19 pandemic - Difficulties from lack of electronic connectivity when the solicitor was working remotely during lockdown - No basis identified for interfering with the judgment and orders of the trial judge - Appeal dismissed 

 

Prisons 

O'Brien, John v Governor of Cork Prison, Irish Prison Service, and ors; and Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission 

5/2/2025 No. 2021/768 JR [2025] IEHC 56 

Prisons - Judicial review application - Prisoner - Inhumane conditions - No in-cell sanitation - "Slopping out" - Violation of human rights - Settlement scheme - Compensation claim denied on the ground of being statute barred - Applicant seeks to quash that decision and claim damages for breach of the applicant's right to an effective remedy - Applicant failed to adduce evidence to show that the circumstances of his exclusion from the Scheme are oppressive or unfair in his personal circumstances - Relief refused 

P (S) v Governor of Mountjoy Prison and the Department of Justice 

24/1/2025 No. 2023/3 JRP [2025] IEHC 37 

Prisons - Prison discipline - Prisoner serving a life sentence for murder - Behaviour - Challenging Behaviour Unit - Placement in solitary confinement - Application for judicial review - Applicant seeks an order of certiorari in respect of the decision made by the prison governor to place the applicant in solitary confinement - Whether decision to place the applicant in solitary confinement was unlawful - Breaches of his constitutional rights and his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights - Court refuses the reliefs sought by the applicant 

 

Public Health 

O'Mahony, Tracey v Minister for Health, Ireland and the Attorney General 

31/1/2025 No. 2021/1327 P [2025] IEHC 45 

Public health - Covid-19 pandemic - Legislation - Statutory powers - Constitutional challenge - S. 31A of the Health Act 1947 (as inserted by section 10 of the Health (Preservation and Protection and Other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020) - Mootness - Whether the challenge to s. 31A is moot and whether the proceedings should be dismissed on this basis - Plaintiff contends the issue is not moot and that the case should proceed on the basis that the issues challenged are "capable of repetition, yet evading review" - Evidence - Submissions - Court finds the proceedings moot - Proceedings dismissed 

 

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