Court Rules

1.(1)^[1] All affidavits sworn in Ireland shall be made before the County Registrar, or a Commissioner to administer oaths for the High Court, or a practising solicitor (in the remainder of this rule, the “officer”).

(2) Where the person making an affidavit is outside Ireland, the affidavit shall be made before any person duly authorised to administer oaths in the country where such person ordinarily resides or is.

(3) An affidavit may be sworn in Ireland by the deponent-

(a) in the physical presence of the officer before whom it is to be sworn, or

(b) where, for reasons stated briefly in the affidavit, it is not practicable for the deponent to attend in the physical presence of such officer, by videoconference with the participation of the deponent and the officer, subject to and in accordance with sub-rule (4).

(4) Where an affidavit is sworn in the manner referred to in sub-rule (3)(b), the following conditions shall be complied with -

(a) the officer shall be provided in advance or at the videoconference with a copy (which may be in electronic form) of the affidavit, copies of any exhibits referred to in it and, in a case where rule 5(1)(b) applies, a certified copy of the relevant document intended to be used to verify the deponent’s identity;

(b) the officer shall be satisfied that the videoconference facility enables the deponent

to see and hear the officer and to be seen and heard by the officer;

(c) in a case to which rule 5(1)(b) applies, the officer shall ensure that the requirement in the paragraph concerned for identification of the deponent has been met before the affidavit is sworn;

(d) the officer shall satisfy himself that the appropriate sacred text for taking the oath is available to the deponent;

(e) during the videoconference and within sight and hearing of the officer, the deponent shall produce the original of any relevant document intended to be used to verify the deponent’s identity; shall identify each page of the affidavit and any and every exhibit referred to in it, shall sign or mark any and every exhibit, and shall sign and swear the affidavit;

(f) the sworn affidavit and any and every exhibit referred to in it shall immediately following the videoconference be sent to the officer, for attestation by the officer;

(g) the officer shall before attesting the affidavit and signing or marking any and every exhibit referred to in it, satisfy himself that the document (and each and any exhibit) is the same as that which had been identified to him during the videoconference and, where relevant, sign and append to the affidavit the certified copy of the relevant document used to verify the deponent’s identity, and

(h) notwithstanding rule 5(1)(a), the jurat of the affidavit shall indicate the date on which the affidavit was made by the deponent, the place at which the officer was when taking the affidavit and the fact that the affidavit was sworn using a videoconference.

(5) In this rule and in rule 5, “videoconference” includes any connection of two or more persons at different locations by means of information and communications technology or combination of such technologies which enables persons remote from one another both to see and hear and to be seen and be heard by one another in real time.

(6) In this rule and in rule 5, “relevant document” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1938.

2. All affidavits shall be written or printed book-wise; shall be expressed in the first person of the deponent; shall be drawn up in numbered paragraphs; and shall be entitled in the action or matter in which they are sworn.

3.(1)^[2] Every affidavit shall state the description, trade, profession or employment of the deponent and:

(i) the deponent’s place of business, trade, profession or employment, or

(ii) the true place of abode of the deponent.

(2) If the deponent is over eighteen years of age he shall so state, and if under eighteen years of age, shall state his exact age.

(3) All affidavits shall be confined to such facts as the deponent is able to prove of his own knowledge, and shall state his means of knowledge thereof, except on interlocutory motions, on which statements by the deponent as to his belief, with the grounds thereof, may be admitted.

4. No affidavit shall be sufficient if sworn before the Solicitor acting for the party on whose behalf the affidavit is to be used, or before the partner, agent, correspondent or clerk of such Solicitor, or before the party himself.

5.(1)^[3] Every person taking an affidavit, a declaration, or the acknowledgment of any deed or recognizance—

(a) shall express the date upon which and the place where he takes such affidavit, declaration or acknowledgment; otherwise the same shall not be held authentic nor be admitted to be filed without the leave of the Judge;

(b) shall certify in the jurat that:

(i) he himself personally knows the deponent, or

(ii) he himself personally knows some person named in the jurat who certifies his knowledge of the deponent, or

(iii) the identity of the deponent has been established by him by reference to a relevant document containing a photograph of the deponent before the affidavit was taken, and in a case to which sub-paragraph (iii) applies shall give particulars of the relevant document concerned;

(c) shall certify therein, when such affidavit, declaration, acknowledgment or recognizance is sworn or made by any person who appears to be illiterate or blind, that such affidavit, declaration, acknowledgment or recognizance was read in his presence to the deponent, that the deponent appeared to understand it, and that the deponent made his signature or mark in his presence. No such affidavit, declaration, acknowledgment or recognizance shall be used in evidence in the absence of this certificate unless the Judge is otherwise satisfied that the same was read over to, and appeared to be understood by the deponent.

(2) Notwithstanding rule 5(1)(c), where an affidavit to which that paragraph applies is intended to be made by videoconference in accordance with rule 1(4), the affidavit concerned may be read to the deponent by videoconference during the videoconference at which the affidavit concerned is sworn.

6. There shall be on every affidavit a footnote showing on whose behalf it is filed, and the person by whom it is filed and his address, and no affidavit shall be filed or used without such note unless the Judge shall otherwise direct.

7. No affidavit having in the jurat or body thereof any interlineation, alteration, or erasure, shall without leave of the Judge be filed, read, or made use of in any proceeding pending in Court unless the interlineation or alteration (other than by erasure) is authenticated by the initials of the person taking the affidavit, nor in the case of an erasure, unless the words or figures appearing at the time of taking the affidavit to be written on the erasure are re-written and signed or initialled in the margin of the affidavit by the person taking it.

8. The Judge may receive any affidavit sworn for the purpose of being used in any action or matter, notwithstanding any defect by misdescription of parties or otherwise in the title or jurat, or any other irregularity in the form thereof, and in that event direct a memorandum to be made on the document that it has been so received.

9. Before any affidavit is used it shall be filed in the Office, but this Rule shall not hinder the Judge from making an order upon the undertaking of the applicant or his Solicitor to file any affidavit sworn before the making of such order, or permitted by the Judge to be made after such order, provided that the Judge may stay the issue of such order until such affidavit shall have been filed.

10. Every affidavit which is filed shall have endorsed thereon by the County Registrar a memorandum of the date on which the same was filed, and when so endorsed it shall be taken for all purposes to have been duly filed on the date so endorsed thereon.

11. Where a special time is limited for delivering or filing affidavits, no affidavit delivered or filed after that time shall be used unless by leave of the Judge.

12. Every alteration in an account verified by affidavit shall be marked with the initials of the person before whom the affidavit is sworn, and such alteration shall not be made by erasure.

13. Documents identified by or referred to in an affidavit shall not be annexed thereto, but shall be referred to therein as exhibits.

14. Every certificate on an exhibit referred to in an affidavit signed by the person before whom the affidavit is sworn shall be marked with the short title of the action or matter.

15. (1) Affidavits or declarations of service shall state when, where, and how, and by whom, such service was effected, and, in the case of delivery to any person, shall (subject to Order 11, Rule 7) state that the deponent was at the time of such delivery acquainted with the appearance of such person;

(2) Affidavits or declarations of service of a Civil Bill in actions for the recovery of land for non-payment of rent or for overholding shall state that the deponent or declarant does not know of any person other than those who have been served who is in the actual possession of the land sought to be recovered, or any part thereof, as tenant or undertenant;

(3) Affidavits or declarations of service of a Civil Bill in other actions for the recovery of land shall state that the deponent or declarant does not know of and does not believe that there is any person other than those who have been served in the actual possession, or in the receipt of the rents and profits of the lands sought to be recovered, or any part thereof. Such statement shall be verified by the affidavit of the Solicitor for the plaintiff, or of one of the persons by whom he was instructed to institute the proceedings, or if the plaintiff is not represented by a Solicitor, by the affidavit of the plaintiff.

16. The costs of every affidavit which shall unnecessarily set forth matters of hearsay, or which shall contain argumentative matter, or which shall be prolix, shall be borne by the party filing the same.