Leave granted to seek judicial review of travel restrictions put in place due to Covid 19

Judicial review – application for leave to seek judicial review - challenge to the validity of the Health Act 1947 – challenge to Covid restrictions - impugned regulations, which have since expired, purported to restrict outbound travel from the Irish State during the summer of 2021 - impugned regulations had purported to prohibit a person, whose place of residence is within the State, from travelling to an airport or port for the purpose of leaving the State without reasonable excuse – no exhaustive definition of reasonable excuse - trip to Portugal to assist his wife and two sons in extending their immigration permission to remain in that country – allowed on the flight - subsequently received a fixed payment notice - procedure provided for whereby the recipient of a fixed payment notice can appeal against the notice by submitting what is described as a “cancellation request form” – appeal refused – no reasons - apprehends that he will now be prosecuted for an alleged offence under the impugned regulations - an application has been made for a summons, but that same has not yet issued – argue that the issues should be ventilated at the hearing – academic - right to travel and the right to free movement - alleges that the impugned regulations are disproportionate in that they effectively prohibit persons resident in the Irish State from leaving without a reasonable excuse, whereas no such reasonable excuse is required by law to enter the State – inaccurate to attempt to characterise the Applicant’s case as being largely confined to the interpretation of the concept of a “reasonable excuse” for the purposes of the impugned regulations - wording of the restriction is “insufficiently clear” to enable the consequences of travelling to be foreseen are but one aspect of the case - a person facing criminal charges has sufficient standing to challenge the constitutionality of the substantive provisions at issue, and that it is not premature to pursue such a challenge prior to a criminal prosecution - the jeopardy of a criminal trial presents a particularly pressing prejudice - proceedings involve a full frontal attack upon the substance of the impugned regulations, rather than merely a challenge to any procedural or evidential rule - Applicant has raised significant issues of law in respect of the entitlement of the legislative and executive branches of government to regulate the rights of EU citizens to exit the Irish State - threshold to be met on an application for leave to apply for judicial review – an adequate factual matrix has been established which allows the important issues of law raised to be properly adjudicated upon - proceedings raise weighty issues of law in relation to the extent to which the Irish State can regulate—by reference to a public health emergency—the right to travel and the right of free movement – demonstrated an arguable case in law for the relief sought in his amended statement of grounds – leave granted –