Recent cases published on the Courts website are listed below.
Constitutional Law
Kelly, Kenneth v Governor of Wheatfield Prison
3/7/2026 No. 2026 983 SS [2026] IEHC 440
Constitutional law - Prisoner - Detention - Jurisdiction - Applicant seeking an inquiry pursuant to Art. 40.4 of the Constitution challenging the lawfulness of post-conviction detention - Applicant contended that his post-conviction detention in respect of a sentence of six years imprisonment imposed on him was unlawful for want of jurisdiction because the order of the District Court returning him for trial was invalid - Whether the failure of the District Court to explicitly communicate a direction under s. 45(2) of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 impacted the jurisdiction of the Circuit Criminal Court - Court finds that the failure to explicitly, rather than implicitly, communicate to the District Judge that the DPP had given a direction under s. 45(2) of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 was not fatal to the validity of the return for trial that followed - Court held that the applicant was being detained in accordance with law - Application refused
Kelly, Kenneth v Governor of Wheatfield Prison
Contract
Supermac's Ireland Ltd v Watchford Ltd
30/6/2026 No. 2020 113 S [2026] IEHC 416
Contract law - Restaurant - Franchise - Damages claim - Plaintiff seeking damages for breach of contract - Plaintiff claiming for unpaid franchise fees, together with ancillary fees for franchise-related goods and services - Defendant counterclaiming damages for alleged unjust enrichment by the plaintiff through overpayment for equipment fees - Whether the franchise agreement included a separate equipment fee and whether the defendant could lawfully reduce the franchise fees while continuing to operate the franchise - Court granted judgment to plaintiff together with interest - Counterclaim dismissed
Supermac's Ireland Ltd v Watchford Ltd
Criminal Law
M (H) and B O v People (DPP)
19/6/2026 Nos. 5/2025; 6/2025 [2026] IECA 122
Criminal law - Applicants seeking a certificate of a miscarriage of justice - Female genital mutilation - Newly discovered facts - Miscarriage of justice - S.9 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993 - Medical expert opinion - Conflicting evidence - Whether newly discovered facts showed that there had been a miscarriage of justice - Court finds on the balance of probabilities that the applicants were factually innocent - Application granted
European Arrest Warrant
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration v Ikekhua, Amienwalan David
24/6/2026 No. 2025 292 EXT [2026] IEHC 405
European arrest warrant - Respondent, a Nigerian national, was deported from Italy in 2014 - Applicant seeking the surrender of the respondent to Italy - Surrender sought for the purpose of executing a custodial sentence previously imposed upon him - Respondent objects to his surrender - Respondent not present at the trial resulting in the decision - Whether the deportation of the respondent by the issuing state prohibits his surrender under s. 45 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 - Court held that it could not be said unequivocally that the respondent was aware of the scheduled hearing dates - Court not satisfied that it could reasonably be inferred that the respondent had waived his rights of defence - Application refused
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration v Ikekhua, Amienwalan David
Immigration
S (A) v Chief International Protection Officer and Minister for Justice; and International Protection Appeals Tribunal (notice party)
30/6/2026 No. 2024 671 JR [2026] IEHC 422
Immigration - Judicial review - Applicant seeking an order of certiorari quashing the determination that he be granted neither a refugee declaration nor a subsidiary protection declaration - Nationality - Credibility issues - Whether the International Protection Officer erred in failing to take adequate or any account of the copy of the applicant’s national identity document/Tazkira from Afghanistan in assessing whether or not he was a national of Afghanistan - Whether the IPO acted in breach of s. 28(5)(a) of the International Protection Act 2015 in failing to have regard to the applicant’s age and expected level of understanding - Whether the IPO’s finding that the applicant had failed to provide sufficient detail on the area he claimed to be from was unreasonable - Application granted
Medical Negligence
Drake, Sophie v South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital CLG and Riverdale Pharmacy Ltd
19/6/2026 No. 2019 6741 P [2026] IEHC 367
Medical negligence - Damages claim - Miscarriage - Plaintiff claims that when she became pregnant again shortly thereafter, the drug was still in her system and her daughter was born with a serious brain injury - Plaintiff seeks damages for having been prescribed medication known as methotrexate at a time when it was contraindicated due to her being pregnant - Personal injury summons - Delay - Special circumstances - Renewal - Defendants seeking to set aside the renewal of the personal injury summons - Whether the special circumstances put forward provided justification for the inordinate delay - Court set aside the renewal of the personal injury summons - Relief granted
Drake, Sophie v South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital CLG and Riverdale Pharmacy Ltd
Mental Health
K (D) v Mental Health [Criminal Law] Review Board, and Clinical Director, Central Mental Hospital (notice party)
1/7/2026 No. 2026/5 [2026] IECA 118
Mental health - Judicial review - Detention - Appellant challenging the respondent's decision which continued his detention at the Central Mental Hospital pursuant to an order of the Circuit Court - Whether the Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board failed to give any, or any adequate or proper reasons for the decision - Whether the Review Board applied the correct legal test when continuing the detention under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 - Court held Review the Board did not apply the wrong legal test in its decision - Appeal refused - Decision of the High Court upheld - Appeal dismissed
Negligence
McNally, Aidan v Ocean Well Ltd, Ocean Dragon Ltd and Bing Liang Xia
26/6/2026 No. 2024 6010 P [2026] IEHC 409
Negligence - Personal injuries - Boating accident - Liability - Plaintiff acting as skipper of a motor fishing vessel - Boat capsized and sank - Plaintiff alleges the vessel was in a dangerous and unseaworthy condition - Plaintiff claims to suffer physical and psychiatric injuries - Second and third defendants seeking to have the plaintiff's action against them struck out as failing to disclose a stateable cause of action - Second and third defendants submit they had no responsibility or liability for the repair, maintenance or control of the ship - Court not satisfied that the plaintiff had no stateable case against the second and third defendants - Court refused the reliefs sought by the second and third defendants
McNally, Aidan v Ocean Well Ltd, Ocean Dragon Ltd and Bing Liang Xia
Personal Injuries
Keane, Mark v Johnson and Johnson Vision Care (Ireland)
23/6/2026 No. 2025/132 [2026] IECA 110
Personal injuries - Industrial accident - Damages claim - High Court proceedings - Plaintiff awarded damages - Defendant appealing from the judgment and order of the High Court on various grounds including insufficient evidence supporting causation and issues concerning the plaintiff's credibility - Whether the respondent's right shoulder symptoms were causally related to the accident - Reddy v Bates [1983] IR 141 - Court allowed the defendant's appeal to the extent of a revised future loss of earnings figure - Appeal allowed in part
Keane, Mark v Johnson and Johnson Vision Care (Ireland)
Kane, Dean v Hearns, Ciaran
5/6/2026 No. 2023 6020 P [2026] IEHC 354
Personal injuries - Road traffic accident - Negligence - Liability - Damages claim - Plaintiff riding a scrambler motorbike on a road when the defendant crashed into him - Whether the defendant was liable for the injuries sustained by the plaintiff - Witnesses - Evidence - Credibility of witnesses - Inconsistencies with plaintiff's account compared with the consistent testimonies of the defendant and an eyewitness - Court not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the accident occurred as a result of negligence on behalf of the defendant - Claim dismissed
Planning and Development
Rocket Pyrotechnics [Ireland] Limited v An Coimisiún Pleanála
26/6/2026 No. 2025 1387 JR [2026] IEHC 408
Planning and development - Judicial review - Development - Application to install a shipping container underground for the storage of pyrotechnics - Application refused - Applicant seeking an order of certiorari quashing the decision of the respondent - Whether the respondent erred in its interpretation of the County Development Plan - Whether the respondent made a material error of fact in the characterisation of the proposed development as other than rural enterprise and/or other than dependent on its locality in a rural location - Application granted
Rocket Pyrotechnics [Ireland] Limited v An Coimisiún Pleanála
Rogers, John v An Coimisiún Pleanála; and Meath County Council (notice party)
3/7/2026 No. 2025 1277 JR [2026] IEHC 437
Planning and development - Judicial review application - Development - Road bypass - Grant of approval - Challenge - Whether the defendant had access to sufficient expertise to examine the Environmental Impact Assessment Report - High Court dismissed the application for judicial review - Applicant seeking a certificate for leave to appeal from the decision to dismiss his application for judicial review - Public importance - Art. 5(3)(b) of Directive 2011/92/EU - Whether a public body in judicial review proceedings owes a duty of candour regarding its compliance with EU law obligations to disclose access to expertise - Leave granted
Rogers, John v An Coimisiún Pleanála; and Meath County Council (notice party)
Practice and Procedure
Nevin, Jean v Circuit Court of the Midlands Circuit and DPP
18/6/2026 No. 2025/267 [2026] IECA 108
Practice and procedure - Judicial review - Appellant appealing against the judgment of the High Court - Offence of assault - Guilty plea - Dispute around the commission of the offence - Newton hearing (R. v Newton (1983) 77 Cr. App. R. 13) - Injured party dissatisfied with the conduct of the Newton hearing - Witness to the assault had not been heard - First respondent ruled that fairness required that he vacate that hearing and recuse himself with a view to another judge of the Circuit Court conducting a second Newton hearing - Appellant seeking an order quashing the first respondent's order - Whether the order was contrary to fair procedures - High Court granted the appellant leave to seek an order of certiorari to quash the first respondent’s order - Reliefs refused - Appeal against the decision - Appeal allowed
Nevin, Jean v Circuit Court of the Midlands Circuit and DPP
Zapryanova, Tinka v Niperovics, Martins Nipers
3/7/2026 No. 2026/1 [2026] IECA 120
Practice and procedure - Road traffic accident - Personal injuries proceedings - High Court order - Plaintiff to furnish the defendant's solicitors with copies of all medical reports upon which she proposes to rely in the within proceedings - Plaintiff appealing against the order - Whether there was procedural unfairness - Court finds no procedural unfairness in the High Court's decision-making process - Appeal dismissed
Zapryanova, Tinka v Niperovics, Martins Nipers
Prisoners
Kelleher, Gerard v Irish Prison Service, Minister for Justice and Equality, and ors (No 2)
12/6/2026 No. 2024 1120 JR [2026] IEHC 388
Prisoners - Judicial review - Temporary release - Statutory interpretation - Applicant seeking judicial review to compel the respondents to consider his application for temporary release under the Criminal Justice Act 1960 - Applicant challenging the interpretation of s. 27(3I) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 - Whether s. 27(3I) precludes a prisoner from being considered for temporary release during a set minimum term of imprisonment - Whether s. 27 (3I) violates the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights on grounds of equality and proportionality - Court rejects the grounds of challenge based on the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 - Application refused
Kelleher, Gerard v Irish Prison Service, Minister for Justice and Equality, and ors (No 2)
Coverage: All reserved written judgments published by the Courts Service are indexed on the Library Catalogue where they can be searched by party name, judge, subject, keyword and other filters. Members may log in to the catalogue with their solicitor number and library PIN, available by emailing libraryenquire@lawsociety.ie
