A significant update to the procedures for judicial-review applications has been noted by McCann FitzGerald lawyers Catherine Derrig, Marie-Alice Cleary and Kate Doyle.
The change means that those seeking to bring judicial-review proceedings will be able to “stop the clock” on the timeframe within which they must bring their application at an earlier point in time than was previously the case – that is, before their application is heard by the court.
SI Number 163/2024 amends Order 84 of the Rules of the Superior Courts so that an application for leave to apply for judicial review is now considered ‘made’ when the documents grounding the application are filed in the Central Office, or in urgent cases, in the court.
The move puts a stop to ex parte applications being made just inside the three-month time period, stopping the clock for the purposes of calculating whether proceedings were brought in time.
Order 84 states that “an application for leave to apply for judicial review shall be made within three months from the date when grounds for the application first arose”.
Without prejudice
This is without prejudice to any statutory provision that further limits the time from the date of the decision in question to the date on which the application for leave to apply for judicial review must be made, such as:
Until recently, it was somewhat unclear as to when the clock stopped running for the purposes of making an ex parte application for leave to apply for judicial review.
Date of application
However, case law recently confirmed that such an application would only be ‘made’ – that is, the clock stopped – on the date that the application for leave to apply for judicial review was made before the High Court, rather than when the papers were filed in the Central Office.
That position is changed since 26 April 2024, given the amendment to Order 84 RSC, such that the clock now stops running on filing the relevant papers in the Central Office of the High Court, or in the court in urgent cases.