The Judicial Council Act provides for departure from guidelines if judge feels an award is “simply wrong”, State says
Mr McCullough was making submissions on the second and final day of Bridget Delaney’s appeal in her case against the Personal Injuries Assessment Board , Ireland, the Attorney General and the Judicial Council.Guidelines slashing minor injury payouts interfere with independence of courts, judges toldThe Dungarvan resident’s action challenges guidelines drafted by the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Council, as required by the 2019 Act.
The Judicial Council’s passing of the guidelines in March 2021 was a “legislative act cloaked in a veneer of judicial action” and amounted to an unconstitutional interference with judicial independence, her side argued. Mr Justice Murray queried if the judges of the Judicial Council had been required to engage in a “legislative or quasi-legislative” process. Could, he asked, judges be “conscripted” to write whole series of guidelines in other areas?Mr Justice Peter Charleton asked if the Judicial Council decision led to “not just a blurring of lines […] the lines are crossing and crossing”?
Responding to the State’s submissions, Feichín McDonagh SC, for Ms Delaney, said the guidelines arose out of a process “forced” on the judiciary by the Oireachtas. Counsel said the fact no judge who was not a member of the Judicial Council could hear this appeal spoke to the fact the March 2021 decision “crosses and recrosses the boundaries” between the judiciary and the executive.
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