The High Court refused Stephen Malone leave to seek judicial review over a delay in his release from Cloverhill Prison after a €100 bail payment was sent by electronic transfer over Christmas. The court also declined to make a costs order.
Mr Justice Liam Kennedy said on 29 December 2023 that the application was premature: the applicant’s legal team had not sufficiently exhausted other ways of escalating the issue, and the evidence did not show that the prison had acted or delayed unreasonably to an extent warranting court intervention.
Malone had been granted bail by consent on 15 December, subject to conditions including lodging €100 on his own bond. He could not pay then. His solicitors arranged an electronic transfer on Christmas Eve and contacted Cloverhill about the payment and his release. The prison said the money had not yet arrived and that the transfer could take days. The judgment said the funds may have reached the prison’s bank on 27 December, but there was no evidence of when the prison could have expected confirmation that the money was available as cleared funds.
After difficulties contacting the prison on 27 and 28 December, Malone’s legal advisers prepared judicial review proceedings seeking, among other relief, an order requiring action and damages. The judge said communications about the imminent proceedings on 28 and 29 December appeared to break the impasse, and the matter seemed likely to be resolved. He considered the proceedings moot, while noting that this was an additional reason for refusing leave, not the only one.
The judge said the applicant’s representatives could have escalated the matter more formally before applying, such as by delivering urgent correspondence to the prison and its representatives. He also considered whether another route might have been more effective, but said his decision did not take account of habeas corpus because that option had not been discussed. Although the judgment described the delay in release as extremely unfortunate and stressed that a person must be released once bail conditions are met, it did not find that Cloverhill had breached Malone’s constitutional rights.
The ruling was limited to whether leave should be granted in these proceedings. The judge said fresh proceedings could be brought if future difficulties made them necessary and appropriate. He refused leave and made no order for costs.