Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 29:

In page 41, to delete lines 30 to 33 and substitute the following:"(ii) an outline of the arguments made by the parties,

(iii) the case law relied on by the parties,

(iv) the Appeal Commissioners’ determination and the reason for the determination, and

(v) the point of law as set out in the notice referred to in section 949AP(2) on which the opinion of the High Court is sought.".

I will take the amendments together as they amend the new section 949AQ which relates to the making of an appeal to the High Court by way of staging a case on a point of law. Amendment No. 29 elaborates on the required contents of the document used for the purpose of a case stated for the High Court by introducing two additional matters. These are an outline of the arguments made by the parties and the case law relied upon by the parties during the appeal commissioner stage of the appeal proceedings. Arising from the additional material to be included in a case stated for the High Court, it is considered that some additional time should be allowed to the parties to consider the material prepared for the appeal commissioners. To this end, amendment No. 30 extends the time limit from 14 days to 21 days.

Amendment No. 31 provides a safeguard for an appellant in view of the three-month time limit for the preparation of a case stated for the High Court. In circumstances where an appellant fails to comply with this time limit through no fault of the appellant, it is likely that the High Court will not decline to deal with the appeal. However, it is considered prudent to provide specifically for such an eventuality. Therefore the time limits imposed by section 949AQ are not necessarily absolute and the High Court must consider whether the interests of justice would be served when deciding whether to deal with the case stated appeal where an appellant fails to comply with the statutory time limits.