The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) executive council has urged farm families to come out and vote Yes in the Court of Appeal Referendum, which takes place on Friday, 4 October.
“The new Court of Appeal is clearly necessary to improve the administration of justice and save both personal and financial stress for people involved in appeals who are subjected to intolerable delays at present,” said IFA President John Bryan. “The Government must also press ahead with further reforms to make the courts system more efficient, make access to the courts less costly and bring down legal costs generally.”
He added that IFA also supported the second element of the Court of Appeal referendum, which is part of the same vote and would remove the ‘one judgment’ rule of the Supreme Court when the constitutionality of a law is challenged.
“At present only one judgment is given in such cases, even if the Supreme Court decision is by a majority. The referendum would allow minority views within the court to be heard and published. However, the one judgment rule would still apply when the President refers a Bill to the Supreme Court.”
While the establishment of a new Court of Appeal would place a small additional burden on taxpayers, Bryan added: “The farming community wants the Government to pursue further reforms of both the courts system and the legal profession to deliver better value for money and drive down legal costs to both citizens and the State”.
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