Published in December the LRC paper discussed the need to reform the many NCABs in Ireland as they operate under differing procedures and appeal mechanisms giving rise to inconsistency in decision making and contributing to legal uncertainty. The LRC paper explored the possibility of “standardising, simplifying, and clarifying the decision-making processes”.

The Law Society supports the reform of the current “over complicated” system where it finds that many poor first-instance decisions go unchallenged as applicants lack the means to bring appeal or judicial review proceedings. However, it has raised concerns with proposed uniform procedural rules and the establishment of an Administrative Justice Council.

The Law Society submission stated: “A single overarching statutory regime risks conflict with existing legislation, increased litigation, and undue procedural rigidity across a diverse range of bodies”.

The society felt that the proposed Administrative Justice Council risked creating “an additional bureaucratic layer” and instead called for the following reforms:

• Enhanced governance and transparency in NCABs
• Ongoing training of adjudicators
• Increased use of shared services between NCABs
• Improvements to appeals mechanisms, and
• Potentially greater use of the Rules of the Superior Courts to streamline processes.