Max Barrett (judge)

Max Barrett (born 1971) is an Irish judge who currently serves as a Judge of the High Court.

The Hon. Mr. Justice

Max Barrett
Judge of the High Court
Assumed office
8 January 2014
Nominated byGovernment of Ireland
Appointed byMichael D. Higgins
Personal details
Born1971 (age 49–50)
NationalityIrish
Alma mater

Barrett received a law degree from Trinity College Dublin. He won a full scholarship to the University of Salford from where he later graduated with a PhD in law .[1] He subsequently trained as a solicitor with McCann FitzGerald, qualifying in 2001. He is an accredited arbitrator.[2] He left McCann FitzGerald in 2003 and held legal roles in Bailhache Labesse, Bank of Ireland and Rabobank. He became Head of Legal at Danske Bank Ireland in 2007. [2] Following the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank in 2010, he was appointed company secretary,[3] a role he continued in its successor Irish Bank Resolution Corporation until 2012.[4] He was Head of Legal at SEB International Assurance until his appointment as a judge.[5]

Barrett is one of the best-published members of the Bench, having written several legal texts on financial law,[2] a series of case-law indices published by Blackstones and a book on the judicial functions of the House of Lords, published by Palgrave MacMillan and based on research which included interviews with members of the House. [6]

Judicial career

Barrett was appointed to the High Court in January 2014.[7] He was one of the youngest judges ever appointed in Ireland,[8] as well as being one of the few to have continued his studies to doctoral level.[9] He is also one of the most prolific, having delivered as many as 459 written judgments in under five years by early December 2020.[10] He has heard cases involving defamation law, judicial review, injunctions, the law of tort, company law and competition law.[11][12][13][14][15][16]

In a 2016 case involving the relatives of the Easter Rising, he declared that Moore Street was a National Monument in 2016 in a 399-page judgment.[17] Though welcomed by campaigners and some politicians, the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2018.[18] Barrett wrote a letter to the editor of The Irish Times in May 2020 following the submission of a planning application for a property on Moore Street. He said he was "disappointed to discern a continuing lack of vision by the authorities for Moore Street".[19] Responding to a letter sent by an assistant secretary general of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the then President of the High Court Peter Kelly expressed the opinion the letter was a "serious breach of judicial protocol".[20]

Barrett has been critical of high fees generated by legal professionals and argued that a systemic solution is needed to tackle the "crushing cost" of High Court litigation.[21]

Merriman v Friends of the Irish Environment

In 2017, Barrett held that an unenumerated right to the environment exists in the Irish constitution, arising out of a case regarding extending planning permission for a runway at Dublin Airport.[22] The Chief Justice Frank Clarke noted in a 2020 Supreme Court decision that such a right had not yet been established by the Supreme Court and argued it was of a "very vague nature".[23][24]

A v Minister for Justice and Equality

In a 2019 judgment, Barrett set aside a decision of the Minister for Justice and Equality which refused an application for family reunification, on that basis that a section of the International Protection Act 2015 was unconstitutional. Section 56(9)(a) did not recognise marriages of refugees for family reunification purposes which took place after arriving in Ireland.[25] Although the case was concerned with a heterosexual marriage, it also impacted positively on LGBT+ couples who may not have been in a position to marry in countries of initial origin where same-sex marriage is not legal.[26]

Jones v Minister for Justice and Equality

Barrett's judgment in Jones v Minister for Justice and Equality was the centre of political and media focus.[27][28] His decision delivered on 11 July 2019 refused to grant relief to an Australian citizen that the Minister was wrong in law to refuse his application for naturalisation where he had been outside of Ireland for 100 days prior to his application. He held that the requirement in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 for "one year’s continuous residence" for the period prior to an application must be given its "literal reading". He concluded that there was "no basis" for the Department of Justice and Equality's discretionary policy of permitting six weeks absence from Ireland.[29]

The judgment was termed a "shock ruling" by TheJournal.ie.[30] The implied effect of the judgment was that "thousands" of people seeking Irish citizenship would become ineligible if they broke the chain of one year's continuous residence.[28] Researcher Conor O’Brien observed[31] however that the statutory language was intended by the Government of the 15th Dáil. Following the decision, the Minister Charles Flanagan said the decision was "unsettling" and "caused concern", leading to his department and the Attorney General reviewing the decision and legislation "as an urgent priority".[32] Barrett said in the judgment that it was for the Oireachtas to amend the legislation.[27]

The Minister and Jones both appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal. Ms Justice Máire Whelan, with whom Mr Justice Brian McGovern agreed, held that Barrett's interpretation of the law was "overly literal" in her judgment for the majority delivered on 14 November 2019. She set aside the High Court decision on the construction of the legislation requiring unbroken residence in Ireland.[33] [34]

References
  1. Barrett, Max (2000). "A Tale of two Countries". Hibernian Law Journal. 1 (1): 23–44.
  2. "Appointments to the High Court". Irish Government News Service. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  3. Barrett recused himself from a debt action in 2017 on the grounds of his previous employment with Anglo Irish Bank, and ordered that the case be reheard.Quinlan, Ronald (30 July 2017). "Judge's stint at Anglo leads to debt rehearing". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  4. "Ex-Anglo manager now High Court judge". Irish Independent. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  5. O'Carroll, Sinead (17 December 2013). "Former Head of Legal at Danske Bank appointed to High Court". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  6. Barrett, Max (24 November 2000). The Law Lords : An Account of the Workings of Britain's Highest Judicial Body and the Men Who Preside Over it. Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 9780333725191.
  7. "President Appoints Judges of the High Court". President.ie. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  8. Bohan, Christine (8 January 2014). "Here are the three new judges appointed to the High Court today". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  9. The others are Gerard Hogan (now an Advocate General in the European Court of Justice) and Richard Humphreys.
  10. "Courts Service website". Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  11. "Judge criticises pace of defamation case". RTÉ News. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  12. "Leaving Cert students expelled over social media video". RTÉ News. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  13. "Greyhound wins injunction over plant blockade". RTÉ News. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  14. "Court rules ESB must pay 60% of UCC costs". RTÉ News. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  15. "Liquidator confirmed to Co Meath construction and plant hire business". Irish Examiner. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  16. "Judge's one-page ruling criticised for being too brief by senior colleague". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  17. McDonald, Frank (22 March 2016). "Surprise Moore Street judgment leaves Government in a quandary". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  18. Carolan, Mary (14 February 2018). "Court of Appeal rules Moore St buildings not 1916 national monument". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  19. Barrett, Max (21 May 2020). "The fate of Moore Street". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  20. McCarthy, Justine (16 August 2020). "High Court judge Max Barrett 'broke protocol' with letter about Dublin development he ruled on". Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  21. Phelan, Shane (11 August 2016). "High Court judge hits out at 'enormous' fees being charged by legal teams". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  22. Merriman v Friends of the Irish Environment, [2017 IEHC 695] (High Court 21 November 2017).
  23. Carolan, Mary (31 July 2020). "Supreme Court quashes Government's plan to reduce greenhouse gases". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  24. Friends of the Irish Environment v. Government of Ireland, 2020 IESC 49 (Supreme Court of Ireland).
  25. A v Minister for Justice and Equality, [2019 IEHC 547] (17 July 2019)..
  26. See Holland, K., "Ruling marks an end to forced separation of couples", Irish Times, 17 July, 2019; retrieved 28 August 2019
  27. Thomas, Cónal (18 July 2019). "Minister promises 'urgent action' after shock High Court ruling on citizenship applicants". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  28. Phelan, Shane (17 July 2019). "Shock at court ruling on meaning of citizenship application law". Independent.ie. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  29. Jones v Minister for Justice and Equality, [2019 IEHC 519] (11 July 2019).
  30. McKinney, C. J. (17 July 2019). "Shock ruling says citizenship cannot be granted if applicant has spent a day outside Ireland in past year". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  31. O'Neill, Conor. ""On the citizenship ruling"". Twitter.
  32. O'Donnell, Orla (18 July 2019). "Minister: Citizenship ruling being dealt with urgently". RTÉ News. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  33. Thomas, Cónal (14 November 2019). "'Unworkable' and 'unduly rigid' High Court finding on citizenship application overturned". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  34. "Appeal court overturns 'unbroken' residence ruling". RTÉ News. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
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