Supreme Court grants Commissioner permission to appeal Martha McEnery dismissal ruling

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Supreme Court granted the Garda Commissioner permission to appeal the ruling quashing Martha McEnery’s dismissal. The determination, dated 22 January 2016, was made by Denham C.J., Laffoy J. and Charleton J. It granted leave to appeal rather than deciding the substantive appeal.

The proceedings concerned summary dismissal under Regulation 39 of the Garda Síochána (Discipline) Regulations, 2007 following an assault conviction. The determination identified the criminal conduct as assault contrary to section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

In the High Court, Kearns P had upheld the use of the summary dismissal procedure. The court held that the Commissioner considered Martha McEnery unfit for retention and had no doubt about the material facts constituting the disciplinary breach. It held that deciding what conduct warranted summary dismissal was a matter for the Commissioner and the Minister. Kearns P refused the relief sought and awarded costs to the Commissioner.

The Court of Appeal quashed the dismissal decision on 16 October 2015. Kelly J delivered the judgment, with Finlay Geoghegan and Peart JJ concurring. Martha McEnery had argued that the dismissal relied exclusively on the certificate of conviction, which could not itself constitute all the material facts. Kelly J upheld that argument.

The Court of Appeal held that Regulation 39 required the Commissioner to have no doubt about the material facts and to be satisfied that both those facts and the disciplinary breach merited dismissal.