Court of Appeal allows appeal of High Court decision to exclude the appellant from consideration for patronage of a new primary school in Co. Cork, and grants a declaration that the application made by Secular Schools to act as patron of the primary school at Carrigtwohill was not invalid where the application had not actually been the subject of substantive evaluation but had been excluded at a preliminary stage because it was considered to be deficient as not containing appropriate declarations of compliance with Departmental requirements, on the grounds that the decision dismissing the application in limine was unlawful, and the Department should have said what the application had to contain by way of explicit declaration.
Judicial review – appeal of High Court decision to exclude the appellant from consideration for patronage of a new primary school – Secular Schools’ application had not actually been the subject of substantive evaluation but had been excluded at a preliminary stage because it was considered to be deficient as not containing appropriate declarations of compliance with Departmental requirements – s. 10(2)(f) of the Education Act 1998 – whether Secular Schools made a valid application – declaration that the decision dismissing the application in limine was unlawful – whether the Department acted reasonably in excluding the application made by Secular Schools – fair or reasonable to fix Ms. De Burgh and her organisation with knowledge of a pre-condition for validity of an application on the basis of the contents of the evaluation reports in previous years and other cases – the Guidelines do not contain the specific demands that the Department suggests in written and oral argument – Department was in error in considering that the application submitted by Secular Schools was invalid – declaration that the application made by Secular Schools to act as patron of the primary school at Carrigtwohill was not invalid granted – appeal allowed