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Case law update - 29 January
Recent cases published on the Courts website are listed below.
Constitutional Law
Doe, Robert and ors v Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland and Attorney General
7/11/2025 No. 100/2024 [2025] IESC 44
Constitutional law - Right to identity - Appellants are participants in a witness protection program - Names acquired and registered by deed poll with the active assistance and encouragement of the State - Appellants seeking new birth certificates under their assumed identities - Names acquired and registered by deed poll with the active assistance and encouragement of the State - Whether the failure of the State to provide for the possibility of the issuance of new birth certificates breached the appellants' constitutional rights - Potential exposure to risk - Whether the state's actions amounted to discrimination and violated their constitutional rights to dignity and equality before the law - Authenticity of records - Preservation and authenticity of civil registration details - Appeal dismissed
Criminal Law
DPP v Dermody, Owen
13/11/2025 No. 2023 811 JR [2025] IEHC 620
Criminal law - Judicial review - Alleged offence of assault causing harm - District Court - Jurisdiction - Power to dismiss - Whether the District Court was lawfully entitled to dismiss a summary charge for assault causing harm due to the non-availability of video-link facilities - Whether the decision reached was without lawful justification - Whether the District Court Judge erred as to her jurisdiction by failing to conduct an enquiry and carry out a balancing exercise weighing competing interests in reaching her decision - Court finds the applicant had not established an entitlement to the relief sought - Application refused
Employment Law
Arkins, Paul James and Jason Arkins v Labour Court; and Metropolitan Films International Ltd (notice party)
10/11/2025 Nos. 2025 307 JR; 2025 308 JR [2025] IEHC 605
Employment - Judicial review - Set aside applications - Film industry - Production workers - Employment status - Labour Court proceedings - Labour Court held that there was no evidence of the existence of any contract of employment between either of the two applicants and the notice party - High Court granted leave to apply for judicial review - Notice party seeking to set aside the grant of leave in related judicial review proceedings - Whether an adequate alternative remedy available by way of a statutory right of appeal to the High Court - Whether each of the proceedings fails to meet the threshold of an arguable case - Whether a statutory right of appeal to the High Court represents an adequate alternative remedy - Court held the failure on the part of the Labour Court to explain the rationale for its decisions had the practical effect of undermining the effectiveness of the statutory right of appeal to the High Court on a point of law - Each applicant has an arguable case for contending that the Labour Court erred in law in its determination of his employment status - Applications refused
Immigration
M (M Y) v Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, in the matter of Section 5 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 (as amended)
7/11/2025 No. 2025 1127 JR [2025] IEHC 611
Immigration - Judicial review - Refoulement - Applicant seeking a certificate for leave to appeal the High Court's refusal to grant leave for judicial review of a refoulement decision and a deportation order - Statutory interpretation - Questions raised - Points of public importance - Whether s. 5 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 either excludes or includes s. 50 refoulement decisions in its restrictive regime - Whether the Minister is obliged to conduct an Art. 15(c) assessment for a s. 50 refoulement decision - Whether there is any lack of clarity or uncertainty in the law identified - Application refused
Khan, Shamas v Minister for Justice
19/11/2025 No. 2025/114 [2025] IECA 230
Immigration - Judicial review - Visa applications - Appellant's four children living in Pakistan - Whether the appellant was genuinely and effectively exercising free movement rights in Ireland - Applications refused - Appellant appealing from a decision of the High Court refusing an application to quash decisions of the respondent rejecting review applications - Inconsistency between the refusal of visa applications for his children and the respondent’s decision to grant a five-year residence card to his spouse - Respondent failed to properly investigate his employment status - Respondent relied on information obtained from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) without disclosing same - Whether the appellant's right to fair procedures was breached - Decision of the High Court upheld - Appeal dismissed
Khan, Shamas v Minister for Justice
Alauddin, Mohammed, Naim Uddin and Nurjahan Begum v the Minister for Justice
14/11/2025 No. 2024 1019 JR [2025] IEHC 613
Immigration - Judicial review - Visa applications - Applicant a dual British/Bangladeshi citizen - Death of parents - Brother and sister citizens of Bangladesh - Minors - Financial dependency on first applicant - Applicants seeking certiorari of the respondent's decisions to refuse their visa applications - Lack of clarity as to whether educational financial support was deemed essential or non-essential by the respondent - Evidence - Bank records - Whether the respondent imposed an unreasonable evidentiary burden - Applicants granted certiorari of the two decisions in respect of the applications made by the second and third applicants
Alauddin, Mohammed, Naim Uddin and Nurjahan Begum v the Minister for Justice
Planning and Development
Delaney, Joan v An Coimisiún Pleanála; and Buirios Ltd (by order) (notice party)
13/11/2025 No. 2024 1408 JR [2025] IEHC 621
Planning and development - Judicial review - Wind farm development - Grant of planning permission - Challenge - Submissions of the applicant - Evaluation - Lack of substantial grounds - Applicant did not agree with the outcome - Applicant seeking leave to seek judicial review - Whether the applicant has demonstrated substantial grounds - Delay - Time limits - Failure to effectively prosecute judicial review proceedings within a statutory time limit - Repeated adjournments - Application refused
Delaney, Joan v An Coimisiún Pleanála; and Buirios Ltd (by order) (notice party)
North Westmeath Turbine Action Group and North Westmeath Turbine Action Group by guarantee v An Bord Pleanala, Ireland, and Attorney General, and Westmeath County Council and ors (notice parties)
10/11/2025 No. 2019 297 JR [2025] IEHC 608
Planning and development - Judicial review - Wind farm development - Grant of planning permission for a 13 turbine windfarm - Challenge to grant of permission - Declarations sought - Failure to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in accordance with the requirements of Council Directive 2014/52/EU - Proposed development not validly assessed in accordance with the requirements of Habitats Directive - Order of certiorari sought quashing the decision of the first respondent to grant planning permission for the development - Defect in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process identified - Public notice requirement not fulfilled - Court persuaded certiorari not warranted - Application granted
Practice and Procedure
Hyland, Patrick v Commissioner of An Garda Siochana
6/11/2025 No. 17/2024 [2025] IESC 43
Practice and procedure - Judicial review - Garda disciplinary proceedings - Criminal investigation - Search warrant - Mobile phone - Seizure of material - Whether the appellant is permitted to use material seized under a search warrant for disciplinary proceedings against a police officer - High Court declared that the appellant was entitled to use the material found - Court of Appeal held that the High Court was wrong to so order and set aside that declaration - Appellant granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court - Retention of material - Garda powers - S.9 of the Criminal Law Act 1976 - Limits of what the police can do with information they obtain as a result of the execution of a search warrant - GDPR - Privacy rights - Whether the use of seized digital information in internal disciplinary proceedings is compatible with privacy rights secured under the Constitution - Appeal allowed in part
Hyland, Patrick v Commissioner of An Garda Siochana
M v T
28/10/2025 No. 2025 370 MCA [2025] IEHC 623
Practice and procedure - Personal injuries - Preservation of evidence - Pre-action inspection of evidence - Applicant alleges she was sexually assaulted by another child when unsupervised at a creche - Applicant seeking orders for preservation and inspection of evidence - Applicant seeking orders to preserve and inspect a garden shed, CCTV footage and accident report forms, incident report forms, witness statements and contemporaneous notes and records in respect of the incident - Whether the applicant demonstrated relevance and necessity - Court finds that the application for inspection is premature - Application can be renewed following the exchange of pleadings - Application adjourned
Hadnett, Jacinta v Joyce, Moyna
5/11/2025 No. 2023 3617 P [2025] IEHC 599
Practice and procedure - Personal injuries summons - Allegations of medical negligence - Failure to diagnose a condition - Validity of a summons not served within the statutory period - Solicitor inadvertence - Special circumstances - Plaintiff seeking an order renewing a personal injuries summons - Whether inadvertence on the part of the plaintiff's solicitor were special circumstances justifying an extension - Order for renewal of summons refused
Hadnett, Jacinta v Joyce, Moyna
Proceeds of Crime
Criminal Assets Bureau v O'Brien, Barry and Majella O'Brien, in the matter of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996
10/11/2025 Nos. 2024 21 CAB; 2007 5 CAB [2025] IEHC 603
Proceeds of crime - Stay application - Family home - Previous proceedings - Disposal of property - Order made requiring the sale of family home - Stay of enforcement - Respondents seeking to stay the receiver from taking possession of property - Respondents applied pursuant to s. 3(3) to vary the 2010 order to enable them to seek admission to the "Mortgage to Rent" scheme (the Scheme) - Applicants preliminary objection is that a stay should be refused on the basis that it and the underlying s.3(3) application are an abuse of process on the basis of the respondents' conduct and delay - Henderson v Henderson (1843) 3 Hare 100 - Could held the most efficient way to progress was an urgent hearing to deal with the application on its legal and factual merits - Stay granted
Property Law
Mars Capital Finance Ireland DAC v O'Brien, Ultan
10/11/2025 No. 2025 193 CA [2025] IEHC 616
Property law - Circuit Court proceedings - Order for possession - Set aside application - Jurisdiction - Defendant appealing the order refusing his application to set aside an order for possession - Jurisdictional difficulties in the original application before the Circuit Court - Whether the possession order was void ab initio - Whether the defendant sought to re-litigate or re-agitate a jurisdictional argument - Desirability of finality in litigation - Application refused
Mars Capital Finance Ireland DAC v O'Brien, Ultan
Revenue
Hamill, Peadar v Revenue Commissioners
14/11/2025 No. 2024 342 R [2025] IEHC 627
Revenue - Case stated - Retired farmer - Audit - Understated income - Taxation assessment - Non-compliance - Documentation - Disclosure - Appellant claims he was unfairly treated by the process - Appellant appealing to the High Court by way of a case stated against a determination of the Tax Appeals Commissioner (TAC) - Whether the TAC erred in law in permitting the admission of evidence procured by the respondent from third parties - EU law - Arts 41, 47, and 51 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Whether principles correctly applied - CJEU - WEBMINDLICENSES case C 419/14 - Glencore case C-189/18 - TAC determinations upheld - Appeal dismissed
Hamill, Peadar v Revenue Commissioners
Wardship
E (D) (a minor), in the matter of and in the matter of an intended application for minor wardship
29/10/2025 No. WOC 11893 [2025] IEHC 604
Wardship - Minor - Pregnancy - Termination - Consent - Capacity - Applicant seeking the court's consent to the termination of a minor's pregnancy - Medical evidence - Foetus not viable - Risk of serious harm to the life of the minor - Parents not in a position to provide their consent - Cultural and religious beliefs - Best interests of the minor - Application granted
E (D) (a minor), in the matter of and in the matter of an intended application for minor wardship
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