Court has discretion to extend time for appeals in solicitors disciplinary proceedings

Practice and procedure – time limits – solicitor’s discipline – appellants lodged the notice of appeal 21 days after the date of either the making of the order in the High Court or the date of perfection of the order – section 12 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 as inserted by s. 39 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 – extension of time – O. 86A, r. 13(1) RSC – whether s. 12 of the 1960 Act imposes an absolute time limit within which an appeal to the Court of Appeal must be lodged – Article 34.4.1 and Article 34.3 of the Constitution – limitation by the Oireachtas of the scope of a constitutionally conferred right of litigants to appeal decisions of the High Court to the Supreme Court (and now the Court of Appeal) – s. 74(1) of the Court of Appeal Act 2014 – s.77(2) of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 – section 5(3)(a) of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 – section 16(11) of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 (as substituted by s. 10 of the European Arrest Warrant (Application to Third Countries and Amendment) and Extradition (Amendment) Act 2012 – Dodd, Statutory Interpretation in Ireland, (Dublin, 2008) – unless excluded by s.12 the Court has an inherent jurisdiction to consider an application to extend time to pursue an appeal – Court has jurisdiction to consider an application to extend time to issue a notice of appeal – appellants formed a bona fide intention to appeal within 21 days from the making of the order – mistake made in relation to the relevant time period caused primarily by the relatively recent change to 28 days for an appeal to the Court of Appeal – time for notice of appeal to be lodged extended.