Recent cases published on the Courts website are listed below.
Criminal Law
Luke [a pseudonym] v DPP, Ireland, and Attorney General
27/3/2026 No. 2026 95 JR [2026] IEHC 182
Criminal law - Judicial review application - Plaintiff accused of having engaged in sexual intercourse with a female under the age of seventeen years - Applicant and the complainant had been aged fifteen years old and fourteen years old at the time of the alleged offence - Applicant challenging the constitutional validity of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 - Whether the failure to extend the "peer consent" defence to a person who had made a reasonable mistake as to a complainant's age rendered the legislative provision unconstitutional - Court dismisses the argument that the failure to make any accommodation, as part of the "peer consent" defence, for the contingency of a reasonable mistake as to age entails a breach of the guarantee of equality before the law enshrined in Art. 40.1 of the Constitution - Application for judicial review dismissed
Luke [a pseudonym] v DPP, Ireland, and Attorney General
W v DPP
19/2/2026 No. 2025 332 JR [2026] IEHC 89
Criminal law - Judicial review - Offence of sexual assault - Excessive prosecutorial delay - Applicant seeking an order of prohibition or an injunction halting the criminal process - Delay in complainant reporting the alleged assault - Delay in Garda investigation - Risk of prejudice to defence - Complainant suffering from a condition allegedly affecting memory - Worsening of applicant's medical conditions - Medical evidence - Court finds no real and serious risk of an unfair trial by reason of delay - Relief refused
People (DPP) v Campbell, Zach
9/3/2026 No. 330/24 [2026] IECA 46
Criminal law - Sentencing - Offence of two counts of demanding money with menaces - Sentence of 6 years' imprisonment in respect of Count 1 and a concurrent term of 8 years' imprisonment in respect of Count 2 imposed - Appellant appealing against severity of sentence - Evidence was not adduced that the debt owed to the appellant was a drug debt - Sentence did not accurately reflect the facts of the case - Sentence was excessive and disproportionate - Court of the view that an error in principle had not been established - Appeal dismissed
Data Protection
Grant Thornton and Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Ltd v Scanlan, Geraldine
19/3/2026 No. 2015 9954 P [2026] IEHC 167
Data protection - Data breach - Plaintiffs seeking permanent injunctions against the defendant in respect of information that came into her possession - Confidential information provided to the defendant in error - Disclosure to third parties - Failure to return information - Duty of confidence - Counterclaim - Whether the information was confidential - Defendant seeking damages from the plaintiffs for their delay in dealing with her data access request - Application granted - Counterclaim dismissed
Grant Thornton and Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Ltd v Scanlan, Geraldine
Employment Law
De Morais, Nilton v Minister for Social Protection, Ireland and Attorney General, Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment
20/3/2026 No. 2025 397 JR [2026] IEHC 163
Employment law - Judicial review - Social welfare - Redundancy payments - Eligibility - Applicant a non-national who worked without a valid work permit - Applicant seeking an order of certiorari setting aside the review decision of the first respondent that he was not entitled to a redundancy payment - Whether the applicant entitled to claim redundancy payments - EU Directive 2008/94/EC - Whether the first respondent ought to have disapplied Irish law as it conflicted with the provisions of Directive 2008/94/EC - Whether the applicant has an adequate alternative remedy in the form of an appeal to the WRC - Court held that the decision makers were correct to hold that the applicant had not established that he was in insurable employment - Reliefs refused
Harrison, Keith v Commissioner of An Garda Siochána
13/3/2026 No. 2025 196 [2026] IECA 36
Employment - Judicial review - Appellant a Garda officer - Suspension from duty - Disciplinary inquiry - Procedures - Evidence - Challenge - Denial of access to interview notes - Cross-examination of witnesses - Appellant appealed against the judgment and order dismissing his application for judicial review - Whether the procedures before the Board of Inquiry were unfair - Appeal allowed in part
Harrison, Keith v Commissioner of An Garda Síochána
European Arrest Warrant
Minister for Justice Home Affairs and Migration v O'Kane, Seamus Christopher; Minister for Justice Home Affairs and Migration v McNicholl, John Edward Anthony
16/3/2026 Nos. 2025/181; 2025/182 [2026 IECA 53
European arrest warrant - Trade and Cooperation Agreement warrants - Appellants contesting applications by the respondent that they be surrendered to the United Kingdom to stand trial in Northern Ireland for offences allegedly committed in 1975 and 1976 - Points of law of exceptional public importance - Lapse of time - Whether the delay impacts the fairness of a potential trial or constituted an infringement on family life under Art. 8 of the Convention - Whether the appellants' surrender could be deemed oppressive or an abuse of process - Appeals dismissed
Fisheries
McDowell, Noel, Killybegs Fishing Enterprises Ltd, and ors v Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (No 2)
18/3/2026 No. 2023/321 [2026] IECA 37
Fisheries - EU law - Art. 60 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1224/2009 - Quayside inspection - Weighing facilities - Regulatory derogation - Appellants challenging the validity of the respondent's decision to insist on the quayside weighing of certain fishing catch in the presence of authorised officials at a time when a derogation was in existence - Whether the respondent acted unreasonably in conducting a quayside inspection - Whether the inspection powers were not reasonably exercised - Whether the weighing facilities at the time in respect of pelagic fish were satisfactory - Appeal dismissed
Immigration
M (T) (Georgia) v International Appeals Tribunal and the Minister for Justice
10/3/2026 No. 2024 1138 JR [2026] IEHC 150
Immigration - Judicial review - Applicant a Georgian national - Applicant seeking orders of certiorari quashing a decision affirming a recommendation that she should not be given a refugee declaration or subsidiary protection - Whether Georgia operates an effective legal system for the prosecution and punishment of gender-based violence - Whether the applicant has access to state protection - Whether the Tribunal erred in its reliance on country-of-origin information and the assessment of state protection in Georgia - Decision quashed - Applicant's appeal from the IPO decision remitted to a differently constituted Tribunal for reconsideration - Application granted
M (T) (Georgia) v International Appeals Tribunal and the Minister for Justice
Mental Health
Health Service Executive v M (A)
18/3/2026 No 2024 222 MCA [2026] IEHC 190
Mental health - Detention - Decision-making - Capacity - Assessment - Respondent detained in a nursing home under court orders - Appointment of a guardian ad litem - Respondent seeking to leave nursing home and return home - Ability to make complex financial decisions - Whether respondent lacked capacity - Medical witnesses - Trauma issues - Conflicting opinions - Orders continued
Health Service Executive v M (A)
Personal Injuries
Yates, Kathryn v Dublin Bouldering Gym Ltd and Royal College of Surgeons Ireland
13/3/2026 No. 2020 413 P [2026] IEHC 181
Personal injuries - Damages claim - Liability - Climbing Society - Indoor bouldering climbing facility - Alleged that the defendants caused or permitted her to fall resulting in the plaintiff sustaining a displaced fracture of the left ankle and a sprain of the right ankle - Plaintiff alleges she was permitted to participate without adequate risk assessment, training or supervision - Whether the defendants breached their duty of care - Court not satisfied that the fall itself was caused by any failure to induct, instruct, train or supervise the plaintiff - Claim dismissed
Yates, Kathryn v Dublin Bouldering Gym Ltd and Royal College of Surgeons Ireland
Planning and Development
Doyle, Colin, Friends of the Irish Environment CLG, and ors v An Bord Pleanála, Government of Ireland, Ireland, Attorney General, and Art Data Centres Ltd [notice party] [No 3]
13/3/2026 No. 2024 708 JR [2026] IEHC 156
Planning and development - Environmental law - Data Centre - Planning permission - Applicants seeking an order of certiorari quashing decisions granting planning permission for the construction of a proposed data centre (PDC) - Data centre decision was invalid as the Commission failed to apply and/or consider its mandatory obligation under s. 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 - Inadequate reasons in finding that the PDC would have potentially positive environmental impacts - Decision invalid as the Commission acted irrationally by failing to require any mitigation of the greenhouse gas emissions from the PDC - Impacts on bat fauna - Court finds certain of the applicants' issues were not properly pleaded - Proceedings dismissed
Moss, Susan, Anne Hoek, and ors v An Coimisiún Pleanála and Lightsource Renewable Energy Ireland Ltd (notice party)
20/3/2026 No. 2025 1080 JR [2026] IEHC 175
Planning and development - Leave to appeal - Solar farm project - Grant of consent - Validity - Environmental impact assessment requirements - Directive 2011/92/EU - Proposed question of alleged exceptional public importance regarding the inclusion of internal access tracks as roads requiring EIA - Whether an appeal would be in the public interest - Application for leave to appeal be dismissed
Hoctor, Sheila, Patrick Carney, and ors v An Coimisiún Pleanála and Carrig Renewable Energy Ltd (notice party)
10/2/2026 No. 2025 1283 JR [2026] IEHC 65
Planning and development - Wind farm development - Grant of planning permission - Applicants seeking an order of certiorari quashing planning permission - Applicants challenging the decision on various grounds including alleged invalid application - Interference with property rights - Overhang of turbines over a public road - Failure to consider the nature and extent of waste arising from the proposed development - Noise impact - Whether environmental assessments were properly conducted - Delay in publication of Inspectorate Ecologist's Technical Note - Court ordered that there be a declaration that the commission did not publish the inspectorate ecologist's technical note by the third day following the making by the commission of its decision contrary to s. 146(5) and (7) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 - Minor administrative error - Proceedings dismissed
Practice and Procedure
T (Q) v O'F (S)
19/3/2026 No. 2024 1570 JR [2026] IEHC 168
Practice and procedure - Judicial review - Applicant seeking an order of certiorari quashing a District Court safety order - Applicant applied to the District Court Judge to state a case and then applied to the High Court to quash the order - Applicant argued the District Court Judge had misapplied the Domestic Violence Act 2018 by granting a safety order - Judge applied to have his name and title removed from the proceedings - Alternative remedy - Whether judicial review is appropriate when a statutory right of appeal exists and has not been exhausted - Court finds the judge was entitled to be released and his name removed from the title of the action as there was no evidence of mala fides or bad faith on his part - Court finds the applicant ignored the alternative and more appropriate remedy - Application refused
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
