Ardagh v Maguire

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Ardagh v Maguire [2002] IESC 21
Coat of arms of Ireland
CourtSupreme Court of Ireland
Decided11 April 2002
Citation(s)[2002] IESC 21; [2002] 1 IR 385
Transcript(s)https://www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IESC/2002/21.html
Case history
Prior action(s)Maguire v Ardagh [2001] IEHC 133
Appealed fromHigh Court of Ireland
Court membership
Judges sittingKeane C.J., Denham, Murphy, Murray, McGuinness, Hardiman, Geoghegan
Case opinions
The Court ruled that the holding of an inquiry concerning the case of a fatal shooting of a member of An Garda Síochána by the Houses of the Oireachtas was an ultra vires act.
Keywords

Ardagh v Maguire [2002] IESC 21; [2002] 1 IR 385[1] was a landmark Irish Supreme Court case on the separation of powers under the Constitution of Ireland. The Court ruled that the holding of an inquiry by the Joint Oireachtas [national parliament] Subcommittee was acting outside the constitutional powers of the Houses of the Oireachtas.[2] The inquiry concerned the case of the fatal shooting of John Carthy at Abbeylara (the Abbeylara case) on the 20 April 2000 by members of An Garda Síochána.[3]

The case addressed the legal authority of the national parliament in Ireland to carry out investigations which could lead "to adverse findings of fact and conclusions" and could damage the reputation of persons who are not members of the Houses of Oireachtas.[1]

Background[edit]

An Garda Síochána announced that they would be carrying out an internal investigation on 20 April 2000 concerning the fatal shooting of John Carthy in Abbeylara by gardaí but that the findings of the report would not be made public.[3][4] In response to criticism from the public and from the Carthy family of the Garda inquiry,[5] an Garda Síochána requested an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Inverstigation (FBI) of the United States into their handling of the Abbeylara case. The FBI concluded that the Gardaí had waited too long to fatally shoot Mr Carthy and that "to allow Mr Carthy to cross the inner perimeter armed after he had repeatedly ignored warnings and had previously aimed and fired his shotgun at Garda officers was inconsistent with accepted law enforcement practices in the United States."[6]

In response to further calls for a full public inquiry into the Abbeylara case, an Oireachtas sub-committee was established by the government to investigate the conduct of An Garda Síochána.[5] The sub-committee was unable to complete its task and was adjourned on 30 April 2001 after nine members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) applied for immunity from giving evidence during the inquiry. On 23 November 2001, the High Court upheld a challenge by an Garda Síochána to the Oireachtas sub-committee. The court found that the conducting of such an inquiry by members of the Houses of Oireachtas was unconstitutional.

Holding of the Supreme Court[edit]

The court upheld the High Court decision in Maguire v Ardagh [2001] IEHC 133 by a majority of 5-2.[7] The ground upon which The Supreme Court had ruled this committee unconstitutional was that the Oireachtas has "no explicit, implicit or inherent power to conduct an inquiry" which could lead "to adverse findings of fact and conclusions (including a finding of unlawful killing) as to the personal culpability of an individual not a member of the Oireachtas so as to impugn their good name is ultra vires in that the holding of such an inquiry is not within the inherent powers of the Oireachtas".[8]

Subsequent developments[edit]

Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2011[edit]

The Oireachtas Sub-committee inquiry led to the proposal of the Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2011 which was designed to reverse the judgement. This Amendment was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas but was subsequently rejected by the people of Ireland in a referendum held on the 27 October 2011.[9]

Barr Tribunal[edit]

Within a week of the Supreme Court judgement, the establishment of the Barr Tribunal to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of John Carthy was decided upon.[10] The Barr Tribunal published its findings on 20 July 2006[11] in which it criticized the conduct of the Garda Síochána, listing basic errors in relation to the control of the siege and in relation to the dealing with mental illnesses. Mr Justice Robert Barr, who was the sole member of the Tribunal, concluded "I have no doubt that the Garda management of the siege at Abbeylara and related matters were defective in the foregoing respects and fell far short of what was required to contend with the situation successfully and to minimize the risk to life."[12][13] In addition to these findings, Mr Justice Barr was also highly critical of the Irish media in their reporting on the case.[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Ardagh v. Maguire [2002] IESC 21, 11 April 2002, retrieved 2024-04-15
  2. ^ Carolan, Mary. "Ruling today on Abbeylara inquiry appeal". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  3. ^ a b "Gardaí to investigate fatal shooting of siege gunman". rte.ie. 20 April 2000. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  4. ^ "Results of investigations into Carthy shooting not to be published". rte.ie. 22 April 2000. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  5. ^ a b Donnellan, Eithne. "Carthy family repeat call for independent inquiry into killing". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  6. ^ "Abbeylara Interim Report Doc 3 of 3 - Tithe an Oireachtais". 2018-05-09. Archived from the original on 2018-05-09. Retrieved 2019-12-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ Carolan, Mary. "Majority of the Supreme Court judges ruled against State's appeal over Carthy inquiry". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  8. ^ "Ardagh v. Maguire [2002] IESC 21 (11 April 2002)". www.bailii.org. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  9. ^ "Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2011 Referendum Results" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Barr Tribunal Home Page". Archived from the original on 2006-08-09. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  11. ^ "Barr Tribunal Report". www.mulley.net. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  12. ^ "Barr Tribunal Report Chapter 8". www.mulley.net. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  13. ^ "Barr report a litany of basic errors by garda". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  14. ^ "Barr Tribunal Report Chapter 9". www.mulley.net. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
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