In July the Court of Appeal (CoA) had upheld the State’s appeal against a High Court ruling on proceedings taken by the commission. In a newly published determination, a three-judge Supreme Court panel said it would grant permission to the IHREC to appeal against the CoA ruling, stating its application “clearly satisfies” the constitutional criteria for appeal. Given the “very different conclusions” reached by the High Court and the CoA in the case, the IHREC argued it was appropriate to allow a further appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court panel said the State was in agreement that the subject matter of the proceedings was of general public importance, identifying several “headline features”. Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court panel said several matters of general public importance had been identified by the parties, including issues relating to the rights charter.
