Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The Deputy will remember that as a matter of ordinary criminal justice procedure, at the moment provision is made for the transfer of cases from one court to another on a geographical basis in Ireland. Exactly the same provision applies in respect of that. They are considered to be final and unappealable orders. We do not want cases going into limbo or hyperspace between two courts. However, saying that a decision is final and unappealable does not mean it can be made unlawfully. Somebody might be able to put together a case stating that it was an unlawful exercise in a particular case.

If a judge decided to transfer a case from A to B for some prejudicial purpose or arbitrary reason, such as he did not like people of a particular class, colour, religious belief, sexual orientation or whatever, and it was manifest from the order that he had moved a case from Donegal to Dublin on such an arbitrary and unconstitutional basis, the fact that the decision is final and unappealable does not preclude going to the High Court to have the order quashed on the basis that it should not have been made in the first place. However, this would need to be done by way of judicial review and would not be an appeal as of right internal to the procedure, which is the distinction.

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