The Supreme Court has announced details of its plan to restart the physical hearing of appeals in the Four Courts in Dublin this month.

The court said, however, that case-management hearings, and other court business, would continue to be conducted remotely, unless a party put forward a cogent reason why a physical hearing was necessary.

In a notice on the Courts Service website, it set out several proposed measures aimed at facilitating the health and safety of participants and the public during physical hearings:

• Don’t attend appeal hearings if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or if you have tested positive,
• Wear a face covering at all times, unless addressing the court, exercise good respiratory and hand hygiene, and practice social distancing,
• Parties will be entitled to make an application for a hearing to proceed remotely, if they can establish a good reason,
• These arrangements will be reviewed after 22 October.

The court says that it will adopt any other measures that it considers necessary – including physical distancing within the courtroom, the staggering of start times of proceedings, and breaks to allow increased ventilation within the courtroom.