Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell appointed Michael Prior as a notary public for Cork and the adjoining counties of Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, ruling that there was no general practical reason to require notarial appointment areas to be contiguous.
The ruling, delivered on 13 December 2023, followed a petition dated 4 November 2022. Prior had sought appointments covering Dublin and adjoining counties as well as Cork and adjoining counties. On 22 March 2023, the Chief Justice granted the Dublin application and adjourned the Cork application for further submissions on the issues raised by seeking appointments in non-contiguous areas.
The Chief Justice reviewed the practice of appointing notaries for specified areas, usually where they have a place of business, and noted that appointments had come to include adjoining counties and multiple administrative areas. He considered earlier cases in which notaries had been appointed for both Cork and Dublin, and agreed with the Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland that the professional qualities cited in those cases were not additional requirements for appointments covering non-contiguous areas.
The ruling said Prior met the Faculty’s educational requirements, had given satisfactory assurances about his practice and was fit for appointment, as his Dublin appointment also demonstrated. The Chief Justice said Prior had provided satisfactory proof that he met the necessary criteria for the Cork appointment. He also noted that certificates of fitness had been supplied from businesspeople and solicitors in Dublin and Cork, but were not required for every adjoining county under the existing practice.
The court’s decision concerned the Cork application before it. It did not appoint Prior for all counties in Ireland. The Chief Justice said that if a petitioner made such an application, he would invite submissions from the Faculty about its appropriateness, the relevant precedents and any conditions that might apply.