Recent Irish Practice Direction and other court changes due to COVID-19

There have been a raft of changes over the past 10 days due to COVID-19. Here’s the key ones.

High Court Practice Directions

HC87 — Enduring Power of Attorney Act, 1996 (March 18, 2020)

“…the requirement for personal service of Form 1 (Application for Registration) on the Donor under S.I. 66/2000, S.3(3) is hereby dispensed with. Service of Form 1 (Application for Registration) on the Donor may be effected by pre-paid registered post addressed to the current place of residence of the Donor.”

HC88 — Wards of Court (March 20, 2020)

“Due to restrictions in place for Covid-19 the requirement for personal service of an Order of Inquiry on a Respondent to a wardship application who has a Guardian ad Litem appointed is hereby dispensed with. Service of the Order of Inquiry may be effected by serving the Guardian ad Litem.”

HC89 — Consent Orders (March 23, 2020)

“During the Covid 19 emergency, consent orders will be made in the High Court without the necessity of the parties attending in court.

Such orders will be made on foot of an email exhibiting the consent of all of the parties to the litigation. The orders will date from the date when the email containing the consent is received and the email and a copy of the consent will be placed on the court file.

This procedure will apply in all civil lists in the High Court but it is imperative that the email seeking the consent order must include the consent of all of the parties to the litigation.”

District Court Practice Direction

DC14 — Uncontested Extension of Interim Care Orders (March 25, 2020)

This PD contains a series of updates on Interim Care Orders, with an additional note re Private Family Law Consent Adjournments:

“The President of the District Court has decided that given the developing COVID-19 situation and the need to focus on prevention of community spread of COVID-19 the following additional measures shall apply concerning the business of the Court regarding consent adjournments in private family law cases.

Applications for adjournments with all parties consent can be applied for by email to the relevant court office and will not require solicitors or their clients to attend courts. The applicant will be notified of the adjourned date by the court office.”

New guidance on issuing of judgments (March 24, 2020)

Courts website link: Update March 24, 2020

“… the default position until further notice is that all written judgments of courts will be delivered by means of a copy of the judgment being sent electronically to the parties and a copy, subject to such redactions as would ordinarily apply, being posted as soon as possible on the Courts Service website.”

“… The parties will be invited to communicate electronically with the Court on issues arising (if any)… Unless the interests of justice require an oral hearing to resolve such matters then any issues thereby arising will be dealt with remotely.”

Statements of the President of Each Jurisdiction (March 16, 2020)

This was the initial statement given on March 16.

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We are also marking any new COVID-19 related updates to PDs etc as “COVID-19” to make them easier to find. We are also updating our Twitter and Linkedin pages with these updates as they happen. The Courts Service is also tweeting out all updates.

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Stay well,

The Vizlegal team