Latest news with #GarrettSimons
BreakingNews.ie
30-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Trinity College named in case taken by student who apologised for plagiarism
The High Court has lifted an anonymity order so that Trinity College and The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland can now be named in a legal action taken against them by a pharmaceutical student who was found to have plagiarised his colleague's work. The third-level student has been granted High Court permission to pursue his legal action against the college, who twice made findings of plagiarism against him, claiming he should not have been put before a fitness-to-practice committee. Advertisement The student, who retains his anonymity, took legal action against the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the University of Dublin Trinity College Dublin and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. At the High Court on Monday, Mr Justice Garrett Simons said the anonymity order granted to the two respondents in December by Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty could be lifted. Rosario Boyle SC, for the student, said there was no opposition to the naming of the college or the society but applied for her client's anonymity to remain in place. The application to lift the student's anonymity was brought by Patrick Leonard SC, for the respondents, who submitted that the student should be treated the same as any other person before the court. Advertisement Ms Boyle said the student, who is in his 20s, was two exams away from completing his qualification and is challenging the internal proceedings at Trinity. She said he was subject to professional and peer recommendations to work, which could be affected if his name was published. Ms Boyle said that there was an unfairness in her client being submitted to a fitness-to-practice review which was commonly a process used for professionals. She said her client had admitted making "academic" errors and has references from pharmaceutical professionals that her client would make a "brilliant" pharmacist. "As of the minute, your client is not in good standing," said Mr Justice Simons, who added that the student could be vindicated in the public domain by the court action taken if it was successful. Advertisement Mr Justice Simions adjourned the matter to October 20th and told Ms Boyle to find an analogy or case law to show him that graduated pharmacists have a right to anonymity based on potential damage to a livelihood due to allegations made against them. In September 2023, the student attended a plagiarism investigation by the college. Ireland Teen murdered man with knife he had stashed behind... Read More He told the investigators that he had attended an exam with a bundle of notes that also contained material provided by another student in his year. The student asserted that he did not realise he had been transcribing directly from another student's notes in the exam and apologised. The investigating committee said that even if the plagiarism was unintended, it was still an offence. The student's legal submissions claim that the university's policy outlines that cases of plagiarism should generally be dealt with under the disciplinary regulations and not under the fitness-to-practice policy.
Irish Examiner
24-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Main dispute over Skellig Michael boat trips resolved
The High Court dispute over boat trips to Skellig Michael has been resolved. Mr Justice Garrett Simons was told on Tuesday that the parties had reached a settlement and a hearing date for the main case in the dispute next month could be vacated. Earlier, this month the judge granted an application by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to lift an automatic suspension on landing at the Unesco heritage site and former monastic island which was also used as a film location for the Star Wars movies, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. It meant that boat trips to the island off the Kerry coast could begin for the summer 2025 season immediately. Annual landing permits issued by the OPW for mid-May to September were automatically suspended when two unsuccessful bidders for the licences brought a High Court challenge to the decision. The OPW then had to apply to the court asking that the stay be lifted pending hearing of the substantive challenge. The unsuccessful bidders, Atlantic Endeavour Ltd and SMBT Ltd trading as Skellig Michael Boat Trips, disagreed with the OPW interpretation of the legal effect of the automatic suspension. They contended that there are a number of mechanisms open whereby landing permits might legitimately be granted to the successful tenderers for the balance of the 2025 season, while preserving their own right to challenge the allocation of landing permits for the 2026 and subsequent seasons. Mr Justice Simons, following a hearing, ordered the stay be lifted. He said his judgment entailed no finding whatsoever on whether the outcome of the tender process allows the OPW to confine the right to land passengers to the 15 successful tenderers for a five-year period. The proper interpretation of the request for tender and associated documentation, and the legal consequences of the tender process, remain open for debate at the trial of the action, he said. On Tuesday, David Dodd BL, for Atlantic and SMBT, said the matter had been resolved and a hearing date for July could be vacated. He said his clients were very happy with the outcome especially in light of the judge's decision earlier this month. The OPW had agreed to pay his side's costs. The judge struck out the case. Read More High Court clears way for Skellig Michael boat tours to resume for 2025 season
RTÉ News
05-06-2025
- RTÉ News
High Court gives go-ahead for Sceilg Mhichíl boat trips to resume
Boats will be permitted to ferry people to and from Sceilig Mhíchíl for the remainder of this summer following a ruling from the High Court. The UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is a special protected area for bird life, was due to open to visitors on 8 May. But legal action by unsuccessful operators in the latest competition for tenders prevented the scheduled opening. Tours to the island, which was a location for two of the Star Wars films, are in huge demand and the business is vital to the local economy and to boat operators. In December last year, the Office of Public Works (OPW) had a competition to award 15 permits for boat operators for Summer 2025 and onwards. The number of permits is limited to protect the island's fragile ecosystem. The successful applicants were contacted in late March. They can land a maximum of twelve passengers a day on Sceilg Mhíchíl during the landing season. Two unsuccessful participants in the competition brought High Court proceedings challenging the outcome. Their action, which is scheduled to last three days, will begin on 21 July. The legal challenge acted as an effective injunction preventing permits from being issued this summer, prohibiting the OPW from entering into legally binding contracts with the successful tenderers. The OPW made an urgent application to the court to seek permission to issue the permits for this year, which was heard earlier this week. Mr Justice Garrett Simons delivered his ruling today, finding that the potential prejudice to the unsuccessful tenderers was outweighed by the potential prejudice to the successful participants and the local economy if no landings at Sceilg Mhíchíl were to be permitted for a further six or seven weeks. He noted that one month of the season had already been lost. He granted the OPW's application to lift the automatic suspension on the issuing of permits, meaning permits can now be issued for the balance of the 2025 season. The judge noted the issues raised by the unsuccessful applicants in relation to the granting of the tender remain open for debate at the trial of the action next month.
Irish Examiner
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Skellig Michael boat trips can resume, court rules
The High Court has given the go ahead for boat trips to Skellig Michael to resume. Mr Justice Garrett Simons granted an application by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to lift an automatic suspension on landing at the Unesco heritage site and former monastic island, which was also used as a film location for the Star Wars movies, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. The order will allow the OPW to enter into a legally binding contract with each of 15 boat operators who were successful in the public competition for permits to land on the island off the Kerry coast. The landing season runs from mid-May to the end of September each year. Those landing permits were automatically suspended when two unsuccessful bidders brought a High Court challenge to the decision. The OPW then had to apply to the court asking that the stay be lifted pending hearing of the substantive challenge. The unsuccessful bidders, Atlantic Endeavour Ltd and SMBT Ltd, trading as Skellig Michael Boat Trips, disagreed with the OPW interpretation of the legal effect of the automatic suspension. They contended there were a number of mechanisms open whereby landing permits might legitimately be granted to the successful tenderers for the balance of the 2025 season, while preserving their own right to challenge the allocation of landing permits for the 2026 and subsequent seasons. Mr Justice Simons heard the application to lift the suspension this week and on Thursday ordered that it be lifted. He said the practical effect of this order was that it would now be legally permissible for the OPW to issue landing permits to the 15 successful tenderers for the balance of the 2025 season. This will allow for the commencement of passenger landings at Skellig Michael, or Sceilg Mhichíl in Irish. He said his judgment entails no finding whatsoever on whether the outcome of the tender process allows the OPW to confine the right to land passengers on Sceilg Mhichíl to the 15 successful tenderers for a five-year period. The proper interpretation of the request for tender and associated documentation, and the legal consequences of the tender process, remain open for debate at the trial of the action, he said. The judgment, he said "goes no further" than deciding the execution of concession contracts does not result in the crystallisation of a contractual right on the part of the successful tenderers to exclusive landing rights for the 2026 and subsequent seasons. He said the significance of this finding was that the unsuccessful tenderers were not relegated to a claim for certain damages in respect of the 2026 and subsequent seasons. The only right which the OPW seeks to translate into a concluded contract, prior to the determination of the full High Court challenge, is confined to the 2025 landing season, he said. He said he was listing the substantive action for the alleged breaches of the public procurement legislation in July.
BreakingNews.ie
03-06-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Skellig Michael delayed boat permits row to be decided this week
A High Court judge has given "top priority" for a case involving the granting of boat permits to ferry people to Skellig Michael. Mr Justice Garrett Simon's will decide this week whether or not to lift a suspension on boating permits needed to bring tourists to and from the UNESCO heritage island Skellig Michael, saying "people's livelihoods are at stake". Advertisement The permits have not been issued while legal proceedings are before the courts in the form of a judicial review of the tendering process. At the High Court on Tuesday Mr Justice Garret Simons said he was "staggered" by the assertion made by lawyers for the Office of Public Works (OPW) claiming it would need six months to prepare the case and ordered it to be heard next month, giving it "top priority". The granting of permits to successful applicants was delayed as two companies who were unsuccessful in their applications for the 2025 season, which runs from May to the end of September launched a legal challenge. The OPW ran a competition in late 2024 to award 15 boating permits for summer 2025 and serving the monastic island, which was chosen as a film location for the Star Wars movies The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Advertisement However, in April 2025, two unsuccessful participants in the competition brought High Court proceedings challenging the outcome of the competition. The OPW has said that under Irish and EU law, the OPW was then precluded from issuing permits for the 2025 summer season until legal proceedings were resolved. Skellig Michael Boat Trips and Atlantic Endeavour Limited both dispute the process underpinning the granting of the licences, alleging it to be "deficient" and "without transparency" and have been granted permission for the challenge. At the High Court Davud Dodd BL, for the plaintiffs, told Mr Justice Simons that nobody wanted the boats to not visit the island and that permits could be granted by the court in an interim fashion, as the issuing of a one-season permit was not a "contract", as contended by the OPW. Advertisement 'Five-year framework' Mr Dodd said he was resisting a suggested "five-year framework" on the OPW's granting of the permits as part of a contract but that the plaintiffs also wanted to see the boats out. Mr Dodd said the OPW in applying to the court to have the suspension lifted had referred to a "contract" having to be in place for the boats to take to sea. Mr Dodd said there should be no such "contract" and that permits issued were akin to planning permission or a gun permit being granted, neither or which, he claimed, were "contracts" nor necessitated frameworks. Mr Dodd said that a permit is a statutory permit without an offer or an acceptance as found in a contract. Advertisement Whether or not this granting amounted to a "contract", was a matter for the full hearing of the substantive case, he said. "We are happy, however, for the suspension to be lifted," he said. Documents Mr Justice Simons asked Andrew Beck SC, for the OPW, how it was possible that the OPW was looking for six months to prepare the case in what the judge described as "the most straightforward case of competition for licences". Mr Beck said there was discovery of documents needed, amendments to make and a possible issue around cross examination. Mr Justice Simons said he was "staggered" that the case would take up to six months to get on and that there were "livelihoods" at stake. The judge said the court would give the case "top priority", adding that the court had "gone out of its way" to facilitate an early trial. Mr Justice Simons said he would rule on Thursday of this week on whether or not he would lift the suspension of the permits and adjourned the substantive hearing of the judicial review to July 21st.
