Case law update -  19 December

Recent superior court cases cover criminal law, disciplinary procedures, European arrest warrants, immigration, injunctions, planning and development, public health, revenue and more.

Case Law Archive

Criminal Law

Brady, Aaron v People (DPP)

11/7/2024 No. 201/2020 [2024] IECA 170

Criminal law - Capital murder - Offence of shooting dead a Detective Garda - Credit union - Robbery - Evidence - CCTV and mobile phone evidence - Admissions made by the appellant to two civilian witnesses in the US - Conviction - Unanimous verdict - Appellant appealing against conviction on multiple grounds including whether trial should have been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic - Whether the jurors felt coerced to come to court during the pandemic - Whether the trial judge erred in permitting the respondent to lead evidence of the US witnesses, via video link in the US pursuant to ss. 13 and 29 of the 1992 Act, or s. 67 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 - Appeal against conviction dismissed

People (DPP) v Byrne, Trevor

23/7/2024 No 170/2021 [2024] IECA 218

Criminal law - Offences of robbery, false imprisonment, threatening to kill, carrying a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and unlawful seizure of a vehicle - Conviction - Appellant sentenced to aggregate carceral term of 8 and a half years - Appeal against conviction - Identification evidence - CCTV footage - Whether the learned trial Court erred in fact and in law by admitting the evidence of identification of the Appellant by Detective Garda in circumstances where the manner in which the footage was shown to the witness created a real risk both of prejudice to the appellant, and of error - Whether there was unfairness in the trial - Trial satisfactory - Conviction safe - Appeal dismissed

Disciplinary Procedures

Ivers, Adrian v Commissioner of An Garda Siochana

8/11/2024 No. 2023/1358 JR [2024] IEHC 626

Disciplinary procedures - Application to restrain disciplinary proceedings taken against a member of An Garda Síochána - Bluetooth speaker taken from a confiscated vehicle - Board of inquiry - Determination - Alleged breach of discipline dismissed - Whether the Garda Commissioner is precluded from establishing a second board of inquiry into an alleged breach of discipline in circumstances where there has already been a "determination" - Res judicata - Applicant is entitled to an order of certiorari setting aside the decision to appoint a second board of inquiry

European Arrest Warrant

Minister for Justice v Vitor, Franclim Jose Soares

7/11/2024 No. 2023/212 EXT [2024] IEHC 645

European arrest warrant - Applicant seeks an order for the surrender of the respondent to Portugal - Surrender sought for the purposes of executing a custodial sentence - Robbery and theft offences - Respondent objects to his surrender - Respondent not present at the 'trial resulting in the decision' in the requesting state - Submissions made under s. 45 of the EAW Act 2003 rejected - Order made for the surrender of the respondent to Portugal

Minister for Justice v Wilgorz, Krzysztof Arkadiusz, in the matter of an application under Section 16 European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 (as amended)

29/10/2024 No. 2023/247 EXT [2024] IEHC 644

European arrest warrant - Respondent is sought for surrender to Poland for the purposes of serving a custodial sentence for driving whilst disqualified - Respondent objects to his surrender - Poor prison conditions - Assurances received - Delay - Abuse of process - Objection dismissed - Order made for the surrender of the respondent to Poland

Immigration

L (E) v Minister for Justice

12/11/2024 No. 2023/1116 JR [2024] IEHC 647

Immigration - Albanian national - International protection refuse - Permission to remain pursuant to s.16 of the International Protection Act 2015 - Deportation order - Applicant applied for permission to remain in the State pursuant to the provisions of the Regularisation of Long Term Undocumented Migrants Scheme - Application refused -  Appeal - Refusal upheld - Applicant secured leave to seek to quash the appeal decision on various grounds - Eligibility requirements including that applicants should be in the State for a period of at least four years without permission was irrational - No rights are bestowed on a person holding a s.16 permission - Approach of the scheme is arbitrary and/or disproportionate and/or unlawfully discriminates - Relief refused

Injunctions

O'Callaghan, Dora (suing by her attorney John O'Callaghan pursuant to power of attorney) v Promontoria (Finn) Designated Activity Company, Tom O'Brien and Wilsons Auctions

7/11/2024 No. 2024/1454 P [2024] IEHC 632

Injunctions - Bank - Loan offer - Property offered as security - Bank takeover - Dispute - Validity of loan offer - Proceedings seek injunctions prohibiting the defendants from offering a property for sale - Named plaintiff has taken no active part in the proceedings - Affidavits and submissions made by the plaintiff's estranged husband - Whether estranged husband was granted power of attorney - Whether there is a fair issue to be tried - Locus standi - Application refused

Planning and Development

Waterside Block 9 Developments Limited v An Bord Pleanala and Dublin City Council (notice party)

7/11/2024 No. 2021/648 JR [2024] IEHC 633

Planning and Development - Strategic housing development - Application to construct high-rise apartment blocks - Planning scheme - Contravention - Jurisdiction - Permission refused - Appeal - Inspector's report - Housing and national policy - Strategic and national importance - Agreed that the respondent's decision should be quashed and remitted to the respondent for reconsideration - What directions should be given by the court when a matter is being remitted to the respondent following an order of certiorari pursuant to Section 50 A (9) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended - Submissions - Order directing an oral hearing sought - Whether the Court has the power to direct an oral hearing - S.134(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 - Court invites the parties to make submissions on the precise order to be made

 Public Health

Mulreany, Niamh v DPP, Minister for Foreign Affairs and ors; and Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Amicus Curiae); Kirstie McGrath v DPP, Minister for Foreign Affairs and ors

11/11/2024 Nos. 104 & 105/2023 [2024] IESC 50

Public health - Covid-19 pandemic - Quarantine provisions UAE designated as a travel area with a high risk of importation of Covid 19 - Appellants arrived from UAE - Refusal to enter mandatory quarantine - Arrest - Ss. 38B(16) and (17) of the  Public Health Act 1947 - Application  to the Designated Appeals Officer for a review of their quarantine confinement refused - High Court proceedings - Prohibition of trials - Unconstitutional delegation of the legislative power of the Oireachtas and an unconstitutional delegation of judicial power to the administrative reviewer - High Court found that not all delegated legislation required to be laid before the Oireachtas - Appeal - Whether the designation of the UAE was an impermissible exercise of the exclusive law-making power of the Oireachtas under Article 15.2.1º of the Constitution, ff so, whether the power of review of the subsequent quarantine by a Designated Appeals Officer was an impermissible exercise of the judicial function, contrary to Article 34.1º of the Constitution? - Appeal dismissed

Revenue

O'Sullivan, Cornelius v Revenue Commissioners

6/11/2024 No. 2023/292 R [2024] IEHC 611

Revenue - Company director - Assessment of income tax - Case stated - Determination of Tax Appeal Commissioner - Preliminary issue raised by the appellant - Notice of Amended Assessment to income tax for the year 2005 raised outside of the four-year time limit provided for the making or amendment of an assessment pursuant to Section 955(2)(a) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 - Whether the appellant failed to disclose facts necessary for the making of an assessment of the chargeable income in his 2005 tax return - Questions of law raised for the opinion of the High Court - All questions raised answered "No"

 

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