High Court - Family Law - Notice re Remote Hearings from 1 February 2021

Mr. Justice Jordan has indicated that the Court will commence hearing a limited number and type of applications using remote technology (Pexip) in the week commencing the 1^st February 2021 and thereafter during the currency of the current pandemic restrictions.  These applications will be dealt with on the following basis:

1. Initially, the Court will hear consent matters and uncontested applications by remote hearing.  In due course, it intends to hold remote hearings of contested matters which do not involve oral evidence AND which do not exceed 40 minutes in duration.
    
2. Practitioners with an application which they consider comes within these categories should liaise with the other side and then e-mail the Registrar, Ms. Angela Brennan (angelambrennan@courts.ie), setting out the nature of the application concerned and attaching sufficient pertinent documentation relating to the application as will enable the Court to determine if the application is appropriate for a remote hearing and satisfies the conditions. This e-mail should be on notice to the other side, by cc.
    
3. If the application is suitable, the date and time allotted for the remote hearing, together with the Pexip login details, will be provided to practitioners by the Registrar.
    
4. If the application is not suitable, practitioners will likewise be so notified.
    
5. It is essential that requests for remote hearings come strictly within the category of applications set out and it is also essential that the request for such hearing be accompanied by sufficient pertinent documentation as will enable the Court to assess the appropriateness of the application for a remote hearing.
    
6. Urgent matters will continue to be dealt with (remotely or in person at the direction of the Court) as at present and practitioners with such urgent applications should continue to contact the Registrar as indicated above.
    
7. The Court intends to introduce in the near future case management/directions hearings using the pexip platform. Any party intending to apply for a date for a physical hearing at the next list to fix dates should then be able to advise the court that the case is properly prepared for hearing, and for example that; -

1.  All issues in dispute are clearly identified by both sides.
2. A D v D schedule is finalized and agreed.
3. Up to date affidavits of means are filed and exchanged with vouching documentation.
4. Discovered documentation and vouching documentation has been considered and the relevant documents have been extracted and included in a “Booklet of Relevant Discovery and Vouching Documentation ” - which may be referred to at the hearing. The practice of including all the discovered and vouching documentation in the Court Booklets must cease as it is unnecessary. The Court is not concerned with wholly irrelevant documentation.
5. Any experts have spoken with each other and identified areas of agreement and disagreement.
6. All booklets are agreed and properly indexed and paginated.