Amicus Curiae - Summary evictions from Local Authority housing
Pullen & Others v Dublin City Council (December 2008, October 2009)
In December 2010, the IHRC was granted leave by the Supreme Court to appear in the appeal and cross appeal in Pullen & Others v. Dublin City Council. The case concerns Section 62 of the Housing Act 1962 as amended under which local authorities can adopt a summary procedure for evicting local authority tenants without a requirement to justify that decision before the District Court or an independent tribunal.
Previously in December 2007, the IHRC was invited by the High Court to appear as amicus curiae in the case. The Attorney General was similarly invited to appear. The case was heard over six days in April 2008 at which time the IHRC made written and oral submissions in the case heard before Ms Justice Irvine. The following provisions of the ECHR were raised in addition to Constitutional rights: the right to a fair hearing (Article 6), the right to respect for private and family life and the home (Article 8), the right to non-discrimination in the enjoyment of Convention rights (Article 14) and the right to private property (Article 1 of Protocol 1). In addition to addressing these human rights issues in its submissions, the IHRC also focused on issues pertaining to declarations of incompatibility under section 5 of the ECHR Act (see above).
In December 2008, in a lengthy and significant judgment, the Judge found that the State body had breached its statutory duty under section 3(1) of the ECHR Act 2003 in seeking to evict the Plaintiffs from their home without affording them certain procedural rights.
In October 2009, the Court handed down a second Judgment on the question of what remedies (if any) were available to the Plaintiffs (i.e. whether an injunction to prevent their eviction or merely damages).
The Court awarded €20,000 to each of the Plaintiffs on account of the distress, anxiety, loss of reputation and damage suffered. However, it found that it did not have the power to order an injunction under section 3(2) of the ECHR Act.
Dublin City Council v Fennell (May 2005)
The first amicus curiae appearance by the IHRC was in the case Dublin City Council v Fennell in April 2005 at which the IHRC made written and oral submissions. The case arose by virtue of a case stated from the Circuit Court and involved both the question as to whether the procedure for summary eviction of tenants on alleged "anti social" grounds raised human rights issues under the ECHR and also regarding the question whether the newly enacted ECHR Act 2003 could have retrospective effect as the issues in the case preceded the enactment of the legislation.
In its Judgment in May 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the ECHR Act did not have retrospective effect.