Case Reports

Galway County Council has been ordered to pay €2,000 in damages to the owner of a horse which it destroyed in April 2018. The High Court previously found that the Council had acted ultra vires in destroying the horse, and Mr Justice Garrett Simons urged the parties to reach an agreement on dama

The Supreme Court has said that the Court of Appeal erred in reversing a non-party costs order made against the principal shareholder of a company who was found to be solely responsible for directing and overseeing a fraudulent claim issued by his insolvent company. Emphasising “the need to pr

An evangelical Christian who alleged that he had been discriminated against by University College Dublin due to his religious beliefs has lost his complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission. The man alleged that the discrimination led to him withdrawing from his course at UCD, and sought redres

A man who was “caught red-handed” at the scene of a largescale drugs distribution unit where over €4.1 million worth of cannabis and diamorphine was seized by gardaí, has had his sentence increased to 10 years in the Court of Appeal. Quashing the sentence of seven years impos

A vulture fund must pay the costs of a debtor who was successful in overturning an order for possession in respect of his home in Clontarf. The fund contended that the High Court should depart from the normal rule that costs follow the event, arguing that, inter alia, the debtor owed a significant s

A man who was given a five-year custodial sentence for assault causing serious harm has had his sentence reduced on appeal to just over two years in custody. Mr Justice George Birmingham, president of the Court of Appeal, said it was appropriate to take into consideration the Fitzgibbon sentencing g

The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, has determined that a hospital can proceed with intensive curative intent treatment recommended by the consultant oncologist in charge of treating a five-year-old boy with very high-risk neuroblastoma. Describing the case as “harrow

A man who complained of “widespread establishment bias” against him has lost an appeal against the refusal to grant him leave to bring judicial review proceedings against the Director of Public Prosecutions and a District Court judge. Upholding the High Court’s decision, Mr Justice

A man who was given a custodial sentence of three-and-a-half years for burglarising an elderly man's home, during which he said “it’s alright Sir, I’m a Garda”, has lost an appeal against the severity of his sentence. Finding no error in principle, Mr Justice John Edwards sai

A man who was found guilty of raping his wife has had his custodial sentence increased from three years to five-and-a-half years' imprisonment in the Court of Appeal. Finding that the sentencing judge had not adequately assessed the gravity of the offending conduct, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said th

A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for the murder of a 55-year-old man who he described as being “kind to everyone” and someone who would “give you his last penny if he had it”. Considering the appropriate tariff after mitigation to be one of 15 ye

The issue of liability in a personal injuries case against Sligo County Council has been directed for rehearing in the High Court. Finding that the trial judge had made a number of errors in concluding that the Council was liable for the accident which occurred on the front porch of a property owned

A district judge who raised concerns about budget cuts qualifies as a worker for the purposes of legislation protecting whistleblowers, justices in the Supreme Court have ruled. Lady Hale with whom Lord Kerr, Lord Carnwath, Lady Arden and Sir Declan Morgan agreed, delivered the judgment.

The High Court has refused an application made by Cork County Council in which it sought an order to direct a property arbitrator to state a case regarding his jurisdiction. The property arbitrator was nominated to hear a dispute over compensation for land acquired by a compulsory purchase order; ho

Clare County Council has been granted a permanent injunction restraining a couple and their family from trespassing on a housing estate where they had previously held a tenancy. The family had lived on the site for over 14 years before being victims of an arson attack, and the Council had promised t