Civil work in the High Court is to continue under the current level five COVID-19 restrictions, subject to the same limitations imposed at the time of the previous lockdown, which began on 19 October last year.

A notice from High Court President Ms Justice Mary Irvine (pictured) published on the Courts Service website said guidance on criminal proceedings in the court would be published on Thursday.

The situation is to be reviewed on a weekly basis from 26 January, meaning these limitations may be reduced or removed before the end of the current restrictions.

The civil jury actions scheduled for three weeks commencing 3 February will not go ahead. The situation in relation to these actions will be reviewed in the coming weeks and an updated notice will appear in the Legal Diary on Tuesday 26 January.

There will, however, be changes to the way the personal injuries division of the High Court will operate until further notice. Those changes will apply to the Dublin list as well as all planned sittings at country venues.

Urgent cases

All urgent personal injuries cases will continue to be heard, subject to strict compliance with current public-health guidance and High Court practice directions. Personal injury actions currently at hearing may also be concluded, though parties can apply to the trial judge if they believe there are good reasons why the case should be adjourned.

The High Court President said, however, that personal injuries cases currently listed for hearing on any given day will remain in the court list on their allocated date in the expectation that the vast majority of these cases will be finalised by negotiation between the parties.

“This approach is warranted given that the current unprecedented circumstances have already caused certain personal injury actions to be postponed on more than one occasion and where High Court statistics show that approximately 97% of all personal injury claims are settled without recourse to a court hearing.” she added.

Ms Justice Irvine urged parties to explore to the fullest extent the possibility of achieving a negotiated settlement, even if COVID-19 restrictions made negotiations more difficult.

She stressed, however, that no defendant was being asked to settle a claim in respect of which they consider they have no liability or where they consider the sum claimed to be excessive or even possibly fraudulent.

"Parties are being asked to do no more that they would normally do on a hearing date absent COVID-19,” the High Court President said.

Daily practice

All personal injuries lists will be called over remotely at 10.30am each day. All cases not settled at that point will be called over again at 2pm to allow the parties continue to negotiate throughout the morning.

The notice says that at 2pm the parties should be in a position to advise the court on the progress made and on any impediment to the conclusion of negotiations. Unless negotiations have completely broken down, all cases remaining unresolved at 2pm will be called over again at 4pm.

At that stage the presiding judge will decide, having heard the parties, what should happen to each case.

The notice says the presiding judge will have discretion, in the interests of public safety or the administration of justice, to bring any application or proceeding to an end with immediate effect.

Masters Court

The Masters Court will not sit again until further notice. The safety of holding sittings of this court will be reviewed on 26 January and on a weekly basis subsequently. Updated notices will appear in the Legal Diary and on the Courts Service website.

Central office

The High Court central office will remain open and operational, but practitioners or members of the public can attend at the public counter for urgent business only by appointment and in strict compliance with social distancing rules.

Civil proceedings and applications

The following work will continue in strict compliance with public-health guidelines, subject to the availability of staff and technology-enabled courtrooms, and a weekly review:

• All non-remote applications and proceedings at hearing at the time of the introduction of level five restrictions,
• All applications and proceedings that are currently being heard remotely or are capable of being heard remotely,
• All applications and proceedings which can fairly be classified as urgent,
• All applications for injunctions and their enforcement and applications which must be brought within a time limit provided for by statute,
• All judicial review ex parte applications,
• All bail applications,
• All Article 40/habeas corpus applications,
• All applications for extradition,
• All wardship applications,
• Applications to appoint an interim examiner or provisional liquidator,
• All urgent Hague Convention and child care matters,
• All urgent family law matters,
• All case management/directions hearings, lists to fix dates and ‘for mention’ lists, where capable of being dealt with remotely,
• All High Court personal injury cases listed for hearing will remain in the list for the allocated date for negotiation and case management purposes,
• All common law motions, with the exception of the motions in common law list one, will proceed as normal.