Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is important to state that inherent jurisdiction is controlled by the jurisprudence of the Irish courts. It is important in that context to refer to the case of AC v. Cork University Hospital and the HSE, a very important case that was decided on the whole area of capacity law. It was heard in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and, eventually, the Supreme Court. This case affirmed that constitutional rights cannot be swept away by a piece of legislation, such as wardship. It stated that the law itself must be compliant with the ECHR, and it is not enough for deprivation of liberty measures to be simply lawful in a domestic sense. The Supreme Court judgment forced the legal system to ensure deprivations of liberty in all instances, be they under statute or wardship, but importantly, be they through inherent jurisdiction, must meet safeguards required by constitutional justice.

There is a very recent Supreme Court decision clearly regulating the court's use of inherent jurisdiction in this situation and putting in place very clear case law protections.

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