The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter, TD, has today secured Government approval for the drafting of the Court of Appeal Bill 2014 and for the publication of the General Scheme of that Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to make the necessary legislative provision for the establishment of the Court of Appeal following on from the successful Referendum result of October 2013 which was passed by 65.2% of voters. The establishment of such a Court was one of the key commitments in the Programme for Government.
The Government has also named The Hon. Mr. Justice Seán Ryan as President Designate of the proposed Court of Appeal. Arrangements will be made to formally nominate Mr. Justice Ryan for appointment to the post by the President, once the necessary legislation establishing the Court has been enacted.
Speaking after the Government meeting, Minister Shatter stated that, “Publication of this Scheme marks a very important step along the road to the ultimate establishment of a new Court of Appeal and the modernisation of our courts. I am committed to ensuring that the new Court will be up and running by October of this year and the fact that the formal drafting of the Bill has now been initiated brings us closer to achieving that objective. I am also pleased that Mr Justice Seán Ryan has been named as President Designate of the new Court. He is a very experienced judge having been a High Court judge since 2003. He chaired the Child Abuse Commission whose published report was hailed as "a work of incalculable value to this country" and he also chaired the Expert Group to examine options for the implementation on the European Court of Human Rights judgment in A, B and C v Ireland.”
The Minister continued, “The arguments in favour of the establishment of a Court of Appeal are undeniable. The absence of such a Court has led to a huge volume of cases being referred to the Supreme Court compared with other similar common law jurisdictions. In consequence, the caseload of the Supreme Court has become increasingly difficult to sustain and, to my mind, the average waiting time for cases to come before that Court is indefensible. This has an obvious impact on individual litigants. It also has economic implications in that a modern, trading economy needs an efficient and streamlined courts system if Ireland is to be to the forefront when it comes to attracting international investment.”
The Minister noted that the Bill itself was largely technical in nature. However, he stated, “While many of the Bill’s provisions are directed towards the amendment of individual Acts, many of them courts- related, this work of amendment is essential in terms of building the scaffolding which will ensure that the new Court of Appeal can operate to maximum efficiency within the existing system. I am confident that its establishment will improve access to justice and I look forward to the speedy enactment of the necessary legislation by the Houses of the Oireachtas.
A link to the General Scheme of the Court of Appeal Bill 2014 is available here:
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB14000046
Note for Editors:
Background:
The Programme for Government indicates that the necessary steps to create a permanent Court of Appeal will be taken during the lifetime of this Government. On foot of that commitment a Referendum was held on 4 October 2013 and the proposal to establish such a Court was strongly endorsed by the people by 65.2%. The General Scheme which is now being published contains the necessary implementing provisions to facilitate the establishment of the new Court.
The key provisions in the Scheme include the following:
· In consequence of the establishment of the Court of Appeal provision is made for the abolition of both the Court of Criminal Appeal and the Courts-Martial Appeal Court. Provision is also made for transitional arrangements for cases in being before those courts on establishment day (Head 3).
· Head 4 provides for the establishment of the Court of Appeal which will have a President and 9 ordinary judges.
· The jurisdiction of the Court is addressed in Head 5. The intention is that in most cases an appeal will lie to that Court from the High Court but that it will be open to the legislature to except certain types of decision from the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal in future enactments. Provision is also made to ensure that exceptions in existing enactments, whereby certain High Court decisions are stated to be final and conclusive will survive vis-à-vis the new Court of Appeal. However, in both of the aforementioned cases, by virtue of the new constitutional provisions, the Supreme Court will have appellate jurisdiction from a decision of the High Court if it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances warranting a direct appeal to it, the precondition being that the decision involves a matter of general public importance and/or the interests of justice.
· In line with the constitutional provisions Head 5 specifies that decisions of the Court of Appeal will be final and conclusive unless the Supreme Court certifies that the decision involves a matter of general public importance or that it is necessary in the interests of justice that there is an appeal to that Court.
· The aim of Head 6 is to ensure that where there are existing statutory references to an appeal lying to the Supreme Court on a point of law those references shall be construed so as to substitute the Court of Appeal for the Supreme Court.
· Head 7 deals with the possible leapfrogging of the Court of Appeal in the exceptional circumstances laid down by the new constitutional provisions.
· Heads 8 to 11 deal with issues such as remuneration and pensions, retirement age and organisational matters touching upon both the Court of Appeal and the Office of its Registrar.
· Heads 12 to 46 involve the amendment of a range of Acts, the majority of which are courts related, in order to accommodate the establishment of the Court of Appeal within the existing statutory framework.
· Head 47 sets out transition provisions which, for now, largely mirror those set down in the Constitution.
· The remaining Heads provide for the textual amendment of a range of Acts where it seems necessary to make individual reference to the Court of Appeal as opposed to the Supreme Court.