The High Court has refused Francis McGuinness leave to bring judicial review proceedings over rulings made during his appeal against two road traffic convictions, finding that the appeal was never completed and must be heard afresh by a new Circuit Court judge.
In an ex tempore judgment on 24 May 2023, Ms Justice Hyland said the Circuit Court judge had not made a final order on sentence before retiring. The court held that rulings made during the appeal, including a November 2020 decision rejecting a request for a case stated, had no legal effect. It said judicial review of those rulings would be futile because Mr McGuinness could raise the issues again in a fresh appeal.
Mr McGuinness had been convicted at Swords District Court in January 2018 of driving without a licence and driving without insurance, offences committed in 2013. He was fined and disqualified from holding a driving licence for three years. His appeal was initially affirmed in his absence in March 2019, then reinstated later that month.
The Circuit Court considered whether earlier no-insurance convictions affected the penalty for the insurance offence. The judge indicated in July 2019 that she would convict Mr McGuinness of driving without insurance and impose a two-year disqualification, subject to a stay while a legal issue was clarified. The High Court said no order was drawn up then, and the appeal did not proceed to sentencing.
At a November 2020 hearing, which Mr McGuinness did not attend, the Circuit Court judge rejected a request for a case stated but said a sentencing issue remained. The High Court accepted Mr McGuinness’s account that he had not been notified of that hearing, while noting that the notification dispute had not been resolved. The judge said the exclusion and notification failures were serious procedural flaws, but they did not alter his legal rights because the appeal remained unfinished.
The High Court also refused leave for a prohibition order. The application as filed sought to prevent gardaí from arresting and charging Mr McGuinness for driving without a licence or insurance. At the hearing, his counsel proposed a different order to prevent prosecution of the appeal. Justice Hyland said that change had not been pleaded or supported by evidence and would not be introduced during the contested leave hearing.
The judgment records that Mr McGuinness was arrested in July and August 2021 and again in November 2021. Garda evidence attributed the first two arrests to a failure to update the PULSE system after his appeal was reinstated; the judgment said the related charges had been or would be withdrawn. The court found that the judicial review grounds did not bear on any potential damages claim relating to the arrests and refused leave on that ground as well.
Justice Hyland acknowledged significant procedural flaws in the sequence of events but concluded that no live issue had been shown that would benefit Mr McGuinness through judicial review. Leave was refused on all grounds, including ancillary reliefs.