‘Leapfrog’ Supreme Court appeals at 42% of total
The Supreme Court caseload saw the continued rise in direct ‘leapfrog’ appeals from the High Court last year.
Bypassing the Court of Appeal under exceptional circumstances, leapfrog applications comprised 42% of all leave applications determined in 2025 – up from 33% in 2024.
The Supreme Court annual report for 2025 also notes that it saw:
- 170 applications for leave to appeal resolved,
- 46 applications granted leave (27%),
- 121 applications refused leave (71%),
- 42 full appeals resolved,
- 80 judgments delivered, and
- Three requests to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling.
The report also includes a selection of summaries of judgments delivered by the Supreme Court throughout the year.
Despite a 25% increase in appeals requiring substantive hearings lasting two or more days, the Supreme Court eliminated hearing backlogs.
Litigants could expect a hearing date within 15 weeks of leave being granted.
The average turnaround for determining leave applications dropped to just over two weeks.
Complexity
Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell said in his foreword that “statistics cannot convey the complexity of the issues which arise in individual cases, or the careful preparation, deliberation and collaboration involved in every judgment.”
However, the data gave an indication of the breadth and significance of the court’s work, he said.
Last year also saw rollout of the Unified Case Management System (UCMS) to the Supreme Court office, with streamlined filing and paperless case management.
A searchable online database for Commissioners for Oaths was also launched in March 2025.
In April last year, the Supreme Court sat to hear an appeal in Letterkenny Courthouse, Donegal, marking its first sitting in the northwest and its first sitting outside of Dublin since the end of the pandemic.
During its visit to Letterkenny, the Supreme Court also did work to support greater public understanding of the judiciary.
This included visits to second-level schools, with Comhrá sessions with students at Mulroy College, Milford, and Finn Valley College, Stranorlar.
In November in The Hague, Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell was elected President of the Network of Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union.
The network brings together the Presidents of the Supreme Courts of the 27 EU member states, along with associate members and observers.
Pilot broadcast
In October 2025, the Supreme Court began a pilot project to record and broadcast its proceedings, including oral argument in substantive appeal hearings and the delivery of judgments, on the Supreme Court website.
The pilot operates within the framework set out in practice direction SC24 on the applicable scope and safeguards.
The practice direction also identifies categories of proceedings that are excluded.