Judicial Reviews

Thursday, 13 October 2022

Questions (243)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

243. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Defence the number of judicial reviews taken against his Department in the past ten years to date in 2022, in tabular form; if he will indicate in the reply the body and-or person that initiated judicial review proceedings; the number of judicial reviews that remain open and-or active; and the totality of costs incurred by his Department as a result of judicial reviews over that time period. [50752/22]

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Written answers

Minister for Defence

The question raised by the Deputy could not be answered in the time allowed. I will revert to the Deputy when the information requested has been compiled.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

I refer to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 243 of 13th October 2022 in which I advised you that the information sought could not be compiled within the timeframe, and my subsequent letter dated 27th October 2022 in which I indicated that my Department was reviewing the relevant information in order to finalise a response. This information has now been compiled.

I am informed by officials in my Department that as there is no bespoke case management system from which the data can be extracted, the information has been collated from a number of sources, and the table below lists all judicial review applications seeking leave to bring Judicial Review proceedings that were opened each year in the past ten years. It does not reflect those matters that were closed in that year or that were ongoing and carried forward into the following year.

It should be noted that judicial review applications to the High Court seeking leave to bring Judicial Review proceedings may not always result in judicial review proceedings being taken. In some instances the judicial review application for leave to bring Judicial Review proceedings may be withdrawn by the Applicant or the application for leave to bring Judicial Review proceedings may not be granted by the High Court. However judicial review applications for leave to bring Judicial Review proceedings notified to the Department are recorded and allocated a case reference number when received and are included in the table below.

Year	No. of judicial review applications received
2012	11
2013	11
2014	03
2015	09
2016	04
2017	05
2018	06
2019	04
2020	02
2021	06
2022 up to 01/12/22	02

With regard to the body and or person that initiated judicial review proceedings, this information is not being disclosed in order to protect the privacy of the applicants given the sensitive nature of some of the cases.

As at 1st December 2022, the Department of Defence is dealing with a total of 9 active judicial review proceedings.

The totality of costs incurred by my Department as a result of these cases over that time period is €2.38m

I trust this information is of assistance to you.