The Supreme Court

The seat of the Supreme Court is the Four Courts in Dublin city. However, the Supreme Court occasionally sits outside of Dublin to hear cases and engage in outreach with local legal, history and academic communities. Following the success of sittings in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny, the Supreme Court hopes to continue the practice of sitting in different locations around Ireland.

Cork

At the Court’s first sitting outside of Dublin in 2015 in Washington Street Courthouse, Cork, the then Chief Justice, Ms. Justice Susan Denham noted that as the nation approached the first centennial anniversary of its creation, it was timely that the Supreme Court sit in locations in the State, in addition to the Four Courts.

The then Chief Justice, Frank Clarke remarked:

“As the Court moves to its new constitutional role of concentrating on those cases which are of general public importance it is, in my view, all the more vital that the Court is seen as a Court for all the people and not just Dublin. If the cases are of general public importance, then they are, by default, important to all of the public.”

Galway

In 2019, the Supreme Court travelled to Galway, where it sat for the first time in a university.  The Court heard appeals, delivered a judgment and launched its inaugural annual report. Members of the Supreme Court delivered seminars organised by the School of Law at NUI Galway and collaborated with the Galway Solicitors Bar Association and local members of the Bar of Ireland.

Waterford and Kilkenny

In 2020, the Supreme Court visited the South East of Ireland, where it sat in Waterford and Kilkenny courthouses.

In Waterford, the Chief Justice acknowledged the role of Waterford’s John J. Hearne in the drafting of the Constitution of Ireland, 1937:

“It is often said that victory has many parents but defeat is an orphan.  I think that we can count the Irish Constitution as having been a success by any measure and its adoption a victory.  There may, therefore, be many who would claim to be its parent or its continuing guardian at least.  But, on behalf of the Supreme Court, which is after all the guardian of the Constitution and the ultimate enforcer of the rights and obligations for which it provides, it is important that we acknowledge that we sit today for the first time in the home city of its most distinguished parent, John Hearne.” 

In the South East, members of the Court participated in events at Waterford Institute of Technology and engaged with the Waterford Law Society, Kilkenny Solicitors Bar Association and the South Eastern Bar. The Court collaborated with the Citizens Information Board on an event involving local civil society organisations and visited secondary schools for a series of ‘Comhrá Live’ events with local secondary school students, meeting them in person to talk about, and answer questions on,  the work of the Supreme Court and their roles as judges.