Court of Appeal Legal Diary, 2020-10-01

• Judgment Date: 01 October 2020
• Issuer: Court of Appeal

AN CHUIRT ACHOMHAIRC (CHOIRIÚIL)
THE COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL)

COVID-19 (updated 16th September 2020)
The court office in the Criminal Courts of Justice is open for business but by appointment only and all personal callers are dealt with in the Bail Office on the ground floor. Please therefore send an email to courtofappealcriminal@courts.ie for an appointment to lodge or collect documents and arrangements will be made for a member of staff to attend at the Bail Office situated on the ground floor of the criminal building. There is a Dropbox facility in a secure area of the Bail Office which is checked twice daily. Documents may also be lodged via email to the above address or by post or by DX (268001). The office is also contactable by telephone on (01) 7988004.

REMOTE APPEAL HEARINGS
The attention of practitioners is drawn to the provisions of the following Notices issued by the President of the Court of Appeal the text of which is published on the COVID-19 homepage:
The Information Notice on the conduct of remote hearings issued on the 14th May 2020
The Information Notice on Efiling of appeal papers issued on the 20th April 2020 - this Notice is in the process of being re-issued to take account of the ShareFile system which will be the required platform for the efiling of appeal papers. Further information on this system is available from the court office.

Any updates in relation to the listing of appeals will be published in the Legal Diary and practitioners are advised to monitor the Diary for any such updates. Any enquiry in relation to the listing of a criminal appeal (or a civil appeal for hearing in the Criminal Courts of Justice) may be made to the Registrar by email to courtofappealcriminal@courts.ie.


CIVIL APPEALS FOR HEARING IN THE CRIMINAL COURTS OF JUSTICE
With effect from the 4th August (as previously notified via notice in the Legal Diary) civil appeals with a criminal/custody element ie Article 40 habeas corpus, extradition, bail and judicial review arising out of criminal proceedings are now dealt with by the criminal office. The civil office will continue to issue the Notice of Appeal and identify whether the appeal comes within the category of appeal to be heard in the Criminal Courts of Justice and allocate the next available case-management list for a directions hearing. The file will then be transferred to the criminal office and all subsequent documents in the appeal process are to be lodged in the criminal office which will have responsibility for the management and listing of the appeal. For the avoidance of doubt such documents include Respondent's Notices, directions books, motions (and motion books), submissions and books of appeal. Any enquiries in relation to such appeals should, with effect from the 4th August 2020, be made to the criminal office by email to courtofappealcriminal@courts.ie. Submissions should also be emailed in word format to that address. This will also be the mailing address for the transmission of books of appeal in soft copy in accordance with the provisions of the Efiling Notice dated the 20th April 2020 (currently under review as above). The provisions of Practice Direction CA06 also apply.
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For any such appeals initiated before the 4th August 2020 and awaiting a hearing in the Criminal Courts of Justice the provisions as outlined above apply.

Dormant appeals review list
The President will sit remotely on Thursday the 1st October 2020 at 2.30pm for a review of certain appeals which due to various procedural issues have not yet been included in the List to Fix Dates for the allocation of a hearing date. The list will be published shortly and the parties notified.

Case-Management List
There will be a remote case-management list on Friday the 9th October at 10 o'clock before the President and while it is intended to have a list every Friday in term practitioners are advised to check the Legal Diary on an ongoing basis to confirm that there is a list scheduled on a Friday where a matter is required to be listed for case-management. The court office will also be able to confirm the dates of such lists.

List to Fix Dates (for Hilary term 2021)
There will be a remote List to Fix Dates on Monday the 14th December 2020 at 4.15pm when the President will allocate dates for hearing during Hilary term 2021. In accordance with usual practice appeals are included in the List to Fix Dates on receipt of the submissions of the moving party by close of business Wednesday the 9th December. Any submissions received after that date will be added to the List by way of a late addition. Submissions will be accepted in Word version by email to courtofappealcriminal@courts.ie. Practitioners are reminded that if a priority hearing date is required an application may be made at the case-management list on notice to the office by email and on notice to the other party to the appeal. An application at the case-management list for a priority hearing date will be entertained only if the submissions of the moving party have been lodged and served on the other party to the appeal.

Sentence appeals and undue leniency applications
See Practice Direction (CA02) for requirements as to materials (reports, testimonials etc) for the use of the court in sentence appeals and undue leniency applications. Practitioners are urged to ensure that any such materials are furnished to the court office in good time in advance of the remote hearing date to facilitate the transmission of the materials to the Court. Practitioners are also reminded that there is no necessity to apply to Court for the preparation of a Governor's Report or an Educational Report so that such Reports are available in the event of the Court finding an error in principle in the sentence imposed by the court of trial. On receipt of an email to the court office (in good time in advance of the hearing date) specifying the nature of the Report required, the date of the appeal hearing and the prison where the appellant or respondent (as the case may be) is incarcerated the office will request the required Report from the relevant prison.

Chief Prosecution Solicitor - service of documents and notification of any intended application
Practitioners are reminded of the requirement to serve on the Chief Prosecution Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions written submissions lodged in or...