Part 1 - Application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court (backup)

Step 1 of 4: File and serve your application

Download Form 1, the application for leave to appeal (Word document). If you cannot download it, email the Office of the Supreme Court at supremecourt@courts.ie to ask for a copy by post.

Your deadline

You must file Form 1, together with an attested copy of the order you want to appeal, within 21 days of the date of perfection of that order. You must serve the application on the same day you file it (see "Serve your application" below).

If you need more time

If you cannot file within 21 days, apply for an extension of time in the section of Form 1 headed "extension of time", explaining why you are late. Where possible, ask the respondent for their view on the extension and include it. Only the Supreme Court itself can grant this extension, and it can do so after the deadline has passed.

If your case is urgent

If you need the application dealt with as a priority, say so in section 11 of Form 1 in no more than 100 words. In urgent cases (for example, cases involving a person's liberty, urgent medical intervention or the welfare of a child) you may also request expedition by a letter to the Registrar; send a copy of that letter to the respondent and serve it with your application.

Complete the form correctly

The Registrar can refuse to issue an application that does not meet the requirements of Order 58 or SC19, so follow the form's instructions carefully. In particular:

• Explain in numbered paragraphs why the decision involves a matter of general public importance (no more than 500 words), and/or why an appeal is necessary in the interests of justice (no more than 300 words).
• If you are applying to appeal directly from the High Court (a "leapfrog" appeal), also explain the exceptional circumstances that make this necessary (no more than 300 words).
• Keep the grounds of appeal to no more than 2 A4 pages (font size 12, 1.5 line spacing).
• Complete the form in Word format and sign it – your solicitor signs it, or you sign it yourself if you are not legally represented. If it will be filed in hard copy, it should be printed on A4 paper and securely bound on the left.

If the Registrar refuses to issue your application, you can apply in writing within 14 days for the document to be issued.

Pay the fee

The court fee for an application for leave to appeal is €250, and the fee stamp goes on Form 1 before you file it. If leave is later granted, no further fee is payable on the notice of appeal. You can pay the fee at the Dublin Courts Stamping Office in the Áras Uí Dhálaigh building in the Four Courts complex.

Documents to file

• The completed, signed and fee-stamped Form 1.
• An attested copy of the order you want to appeal. An attested copy is an officially certified copy, which you can get from the office of the court that made the order.
• An attested copy of the written judgment, approved by the court that gave it. If the approved judgment is not yet available, file it promptly as soon as it becomes available – but do not wait for it before filing Form 1 within the 21-day deadline.
• In a civil case where no written judgment was given, a certified transcript of the oral judgment (and of any relevant rulings), obtained at your own expense from the court below. In a civil case you must also file a certified transcript of any oral evidence, or the extracts required, where relevant.

How to file

• In person at the public counter of the Office of the Supreme Court – book an appointment with the Office of the Supreme Court.
• By post to the Office of the Supreme Court, Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7.
• Applications prepared by solicitors' firms and the law offices of State bodies may be filed online through the Supreme Court e-filing system.

If you are not using the e-filing system, you must also email a copy of Form 1 in Word format to supremecourtapps@courts.ie on the day you file it. Emailing this copy does not by itself count as filing: your application is filed only when the Office confirms it.

Serve your application

Serving means formally giving a copy of a document to the other parties.

• You must serve a copy of Form 1 on the respondent and on every other party directly affected by the application, on the same day you file it. (This does not apply where the decision you are appealing was made without the other party being involved.)
• You can serve it by personal delivery, by registered post, or electronically where the other party has consented to electronic service or a statutory practice direction allows it.
• Keep a record of who you served, when and how. You will need this for a certificate of service, which is filed later with the application for leave booklet (step 3) and must state: "I certify that the _______ was served on _______ on the ___ day of ___ 20__ by the following method _______ signed _______".
• The Court can ask you to prove service, and in cases of dispute may require a sworn affidavit of service.

Step 2 of 4: The respondent files a notice

This step is for the respondent – the party the application for leave to appeal is made against. Full details are in paragraph 5 of Practice Direction SC19.

The respondent's deadline

Each respondent who is served with an application must file a respondent's notice in Form 2 (Word document) in the Office of the Supreme Court, and serve it on the applicant and on every other respondent:

• within 6 weeks of the date of perfection of the order; or
• where the applicant did not file Form 1 within 21 days of perfection, within 21 days of the date Form 1 was filed.

If you cannot meet the deadline, you can apply for an extension of time in section 3 of Form 2. A respondent's notice may also be filed late with the applicant's written consent or by direction of the Court.

Completing and filing Form 2

• Use Form 2 to say whether you oppose the application and why, following the word limits set out in the form and in paragraph 5 of SC19.
• If you want to cross-appeal, or to put forward additional grounds on which the decision should be upheld, you can do this in Form 2.
• You can file in person at the public counter (book an appointment with the Office of the Supreme Court) or by post. Solicitors' firms and the law offices of State bodies may file through the Supreme Court e-filing system.
• If you are not using the e-filing system, also email a copy of Form 2 in Word format to supremecourtapps@courts.ie on the day you file it. Your notice is filed only when the Office confirms it.
• Within 7 days of the last service of Form 2, file a certificate of service (using the wording in step 1) and four copies of the notice.

If the respondent's notice is late or not filed

• If a respondent's notice has not been filed in time, the Office writes to the parties stating that the papers will go to a panel of the Court after 7 days. The notice may still be filed within that 7-day period; after that, the panel may decide the application without it.
• Unless the Court directs otherwise, a respondent who does not file a respondent's notice will receive no further communication from the Office about the proceedings.

Step 3 of 4: File and serve the application for leave booklet

This step is for the applicant. Full details are in Order 58 rule 19 and paragraph 8 of Practice Direction SC19.

Your deadline

Within 7 weeks of the date of perfection of the order (or any extended time allowed), you must:

• file the application for leave booklet – four hard copies if you are not using the Supreme Court e-filing system; and
• serve a copy of the filed booklet on the respondent.

You can file the hard copies in person at the public counter (book an appointment with the Office of the Supreme Court) or by post.

What goes in the booklet

The booklet must contain copies of the following, and nothing else:

• the notice of application for leave to appeal (Form 1)
• the respondent's notice (Form 2), if it has been filed and served
• an attested copy of the order you want to appeal
• the approved judgment on which that order was made
• any final order or orders of every other lower court involved in the case (attested copies)
• any approved judgment or judgments of those other lower courts
• your certificate of service confirming that the application for leave was served on all respondents, in the wording set out in step 1.

Documents other than these will not be accepted unless the Court asks for them.

Additional documents in criminal cases

If the order you are appealing was made in criminal proceedings, the booklet must also contain each of the following, where it is relevant to an issue raised in your application:

• a copy of the indictment
• the transcript of the prosecution's opening speech
• where the appeal concerns a particular issue raised at the trial, the transcript of the evidence, submissions and ruling on that issue
• a copy of any relevant exhibit
• the transcripts of the prosecution and defence closing speeches
• the transcript of the judge's charge to the jury so far as it relates to the issue – or the entire transcript, if the trial lasted 3 days or less.

Format of the booklet

• The four hard copies must be numbered 1 to 4, properly labelled and indexed.
• All documents must be clearly legible. Documents that are not legible or not in the required form will not be accepted.
• Adding page numbers is recommended: it makes the booklet easier for the Court and the parties to use.

If you cannot include a document

If a required document cannot be included, you can file the booklet without it, together with a letter to the Registrar explaining the difficulty and what you have done to try to get the document. You must file this letter no later than 3 days before the booklet deadline and send a copy to the respondent at the same time. A judge will then decide whether the requirement can be dispensed with or varied.

If the booklet is late

If the booklet is not filed in time, the Office writes to you stating that unless it is filed within a further 7 days, the matter goes straight to a panel of the Court, and the panel may dismiss your application.

Step 4 of 4: The Court decides your application

How the Court considers your application

A panel of at least three Supreme Court judges considers whether your case meets the constitutional grounds for an appeal: that the decision involves a matter of general public importance, or that an appeal is necessary in the interests of justice – and, for a direct appeal from the High Court, that there are exceptional circumstances warranting it. The application is normally decided on the documents in the booklet, in chambers rather than in a courtroom, unless the Court directs otherwise.

What the Court may do

When the Court has considered the application, it may:

• direct that written submissions on the application be filed
• refuse leave
• grant leave on all or specified grounds
• direct an oral hearing, with or without written submissions
• invite the parties to file written submissions on granting leave on terms.

The Court gives brief reasons for granting or refusing leave. This decision is called the determination.

Publication and privacy

When the Court has determined the application, the determination is published on courts.ie – and so are the application for leave (Form 1) and the respondent's notice (Form 2), subject only to any redaction required by law. Neither form should contain information that the law prohibits from being published. If your form has to contain such information, you must file a redacted electronic version, with that information deleted, within 7 days of filing the form, by email to supremecourtapps@courts.ie.

In a case concerning children, or where reporting or publication restrictions arise, the parties should consider asking the Court for an order restricting publication or reporting. Make any such request by letter to the Registrar as soon as possible after the application is filed, setting out its legal basis, and deliver a copy of the letter to the other parties. Always tell the Office if a lower court has already made such an order.

If leave is refused

The parties are notified that the application is refused and are sent a copy of the determination.

If leave is granted

The parties are sent a copy of the determination, which sets out the grounds on which leave is granted. The applicant must then file and serve a notice of intention to proceed within 7 days of the grant of leave – otherwise the appeal is treated as abandoned unless the Court orders otherwise. Part 2 of this guide explains the steps after leave is granted.

If the Court proposes granting leave on terms

• The Court proposes the terms, and the parties have 14 days to make submissions on them. The Court then decides whether to grant leave, with or without terms.
• An applicant who is granted leave on terms they are unwilling to accept may decline to pursue the appeal.
• Where the application was for a direct appeal from the High Court and the applicant declines to proceed on the proposed terms, the applicant may instead appeal to the Court of Appeal, subject to any provisions of law limiting that appeal. See paragraph 12 of Practice Direction SC19.

Costs

If an unsuccessful application is decided without an oral hearing, the respondent may apply for costs by letter to the Registrar, copied to the other parties; any party opposing that application has 14 days to reply in writing. If the application was refused after an oral hearing, costs must be requested at the end of the hearing. Where leave is granted, the costs of the application become costs in the appeal. The reasonable costs of successfully objecting to an application are normally awarded to the respondent, at the Court's discretion. See paragraph 15 of Practice Direction SC19.