The Supreme Court has dismissed John A. Burke’s appeal over the delivery of a letter to his home, finding no error in the High Court’s refusal to grant him leave to seek judicial review.
The appeal concerned a High Court decision in May 2009 refusing leave to challenge the delivery of fine reminder notices and seek an injunction preventing gardaí from entering his home to leave documents. The Supreme Court said it was not arguable that the garda was not entitled to deliver mail by putting it through an open door.
In the High Court, Burke had sought to quash a reminder letter he said was left on his kitchen floor and to restrain gardaí from entering his home to leave documents. The judge considered judicial review unsuitable for that injunction and found the reminder letters were not capable of being quashed by certiorari. The judge also noted uncertainty over whether there had been a forcible entry or whether the door had been left open.
Burke appealed the refusal of leave and asked the Supreme Court to allow the judicial review to proceed. He also sought to introduce additional evidence. In an affidavit for that motion, he alleged that respondents had entered his family home and premises about 300 times over roughly 12 years. He said he had spent six months and three days in prison on what he described as an “unlawful warrant”, and alleged that animals taken from him had not been returned.
The Court considered the appeal papers, the motion and Burke’s oral submissions. It concluded that the additional evidence did not warrant a different approach and dismissed the appeal. The judgment does not grant the requested leave for judicial review or an injunction.
The papers also included an affidavit from Garda Robert Lynch in separate proceedings. Lynch said he left summonses at Burke’s home in May 2008, usually inside a sliding patio door, and had never entered the home to leave them. He said he later executed a bench warrant and answered Burke’s questions about service and execution to the satisfaction of the District Judge.