Ryan v Attorney General

JurisdictionIreland
Judgment Date31 July 1965
Date31 July 1965
Docket Number(1962. No. 913 P.)
CourtSupreme Court
Ryan
and
Attorney General
(S.C.)

Validity - Fluoridation of water supplied to public - Whether a violation of personal rights of citizens - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Art. 40, 3; Arts. 41, 42 - Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies) Act, 1960, ss. 2 (1), (2), (3), 3, 4 - Fluoridation of Water Supplies (Dublin) Regulations, 1962, Arts. 3, 5, 6, 8.

The Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies) Act, 1960, by s. 2, imposes an obligation on a health authority (as therein defined) to arrange for the fluoridation of water supplied to the public by sanitary authorities, through pipes, before a date to be fixed by the Minister for Health. The Minister is empowered to make regulations which shall "in particular provide for the specification of the amount of fluorine (which shall not exceed one part by weight of fluorine per million parts of water) which may be added to a water supply." By s. 2 (4) of the Act, prior to making such regulations the Minister is required, inter alia, to cause to be made a survey of the incidence of dental caries in a representative sample of pupils attending full-time day schools in the functional areas of a health authority to which the regulations relate and also to have an analysis of, inter alia, the quantities of fluorine in the water supplied by sanitary authorities through pipes to the public in such functional areas. Pursuant to the Act, the Minister, in 1961, caused a survey of the incidence of dental caries among children in, inter alia, the Dublin area to be carried out by the Medical Research Council and he also caused to be made an analysis of the piped water in this area by the public analyst for the City and County of Dublin. The reports of the survey and analysis were subsequently presented to the Oireachtas. On the 5th May, 1962, the Minister, in exercise of his powers under ss. 2 and 4 of the Act, made the Fluoridation of Water Supplies (Dublin) Regulations, 1962, which required the Dublin Health Authority to arrange for the fluoridation, inter alia, of the piped water supply provided by the Corporation of Dublin. Article 5 of these Regulations provided that "The amount of fluorine which may be added to a water supply in accordance with these regulations shall be such that the water, after the addition of the fluorine, shall contain not more than one part of fluorine per million parts of water, and not less than eight-tenths of a part of fluorine per million parts of water." The plaintiff, the mother of five...

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169 cases
  • I. O'T. v B
    • Ireland
    • Supreme Court
    • 3 April 1998
    ...by courts of limited and local jurisdiction whose jurisdiction was derived from Acts of the Oireachtas. Ryan v. The Attorney GeneralIR [1965] I.R. 294 followed. (Per Keane J.): The "unenumerated rights" doctrine did not emerge until nearly 30 years after the enactment of the Constitution. I......
  • Maura O'Shea and Michael O'Shea v Ireland and Attorney General
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 17 October 2006
    ...4ED PAR 7.6.97 NORRIS v AG 1984 IR 36 CASEY CONSTITITUTIONAL LAW IN IRELAND 3ED 466 DONOVAN v MIN JUSTICE 1951 85 ILTR 134 RYAN v AG 1965 IR 294 CONSTITUTION ART 40.3.1 CONSTITUTION ART 40 CONSTITUTION ART 40.3 F (T) v IRELAND 1995 1 IR 321 JUDICIAL SEPARATION & FAMILY LAW REFORM ACT 1989......
  • TF v Ireland
    • Ireland
    • Supreme Court
    • 14 July 1995
    ...the claims of the common good, should prevail unless it was oppressive or not reasonably proportionate. Ryan v. The Attorney GeneralIR [1965] I.R. 294 applied. 4. That developments in legal, social and economic conditions had brought about a change from the position where a spouse had no pr......
  • North Western Health Board v H.W.
    • Ireland
    • Supreme Court
    • 8 November 2001
    ...GUARDIANSHIP OF INFANTS ACT 1964 S3 SOUTHERN HEALTH BOARD V H (C) 1996 IR 219 C, RE (HIV TEST) 2000 1 WLR 2 T, RE 1997 1 AER 906 RYAN V AG 1965 IR 294 MESKILL V CIE 1973 IR 121 KELLY ON THE IRISH CONSTITUTION 3ED 1047 CONSTITUTION ART 42.5 H (J), RE 1985 IR 375 CONSTITUTION ART 42.1 CONST......
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38 books & journal articles
  • Should Ireland prohibit the contemporaneous media reporting of juvenile trials?
    • Ireland
    • Irish Judicial Studies Journal No. 1-21, January 2021
    • 1 January 2021
    ...which did not form a proportionality test but evaluated legislation to interpret the constitution include: Ryan v. The Attorney General [1965] I.R. 294; and McDonald v. Bord na gCon (No.2) [1965] I.R. 217. 181 Brian Foley, ‘The Proportionality Test: Present Problems’ (2008) Judicial Studies......
  • Whither Constitutional Environmental (Rights) Protection In Ireland After ?Climate Case Ireland'?
    • Ireland
    • Irish Judicial Studies Journal No. 2-21, July 2021
    • 1 July 2021
    ...‘Air pollution a cause in girl's death, coroner rules in landmark case’ The Guardian (London, 16 December 2020) accessed 22 July 2021. 69 [1965] IR 294 (HC). 70 ibid 315. 71 Ryan v Attorney General [1965] IR 294 (SC) 342. 72 Philip Alston, Victoria Adelmant, and Matthew Blainey, ‘Litigating......
  • Terra incognita: Victim Participation Rights, Sexual Offending and Brexit
    • United Kingdom
    • Sage New Journal of European Criminal Law No. 13-4, December 2022
    • 1 December 2022
    ...doctrine in Article 40.3 1° have developed a number of additional personal rightsbeginning with the case of Ryan v Attorney General [1965] IR 294 where the Supreme Court of Ireland recogniseda constitutional right to bodily integrity. A sexual assault amounts to a violation of this right. M......
  • Terra incognita: Victim Participation Rights, Sexual Offending and Brexit
    • United Kingdom
    • Sage New Journal of European Criminal Law No. 13-4, December 2022
    • 1 December 2022
    ...doctrine in Article 40.3 1° have developed a number of additional personal rightsbeginning with the case of Ryan v Attorney General [1965] IR 294 where the Supreme Court of Ireland recogniseda constitutional right to bodily integrity. A sexual assault amounts to a violation of this right. M......
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