N case appeal listed

As I speculated, the Supreme Court has given an early appeal date to the aggrieved parents in N. & anor -v- H.S.E. Western Area & ors. As was also to be expected, the appeal will be heard before a five-judge panel, comprising Chief Justice Murray, and Justices McGuinness, Hardiman, Geoghegan and Fennelly JJ. The hearing begins on October 4th; that is, next Wednesday.

A brief thought: Does the strongly pro-parent line taken a few years back in the North Western Health Board case - which involved whether a PKU test could be given to a child over its parents' objections - not imply that the present Supreme Court will be slow to affirm McMenamin J.'s decision? Not necessarily is, of course, the answer. But we probably won't have to wait too long to see what transpires.

P.S. Since my recent posts on upcoming cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, I said I'd better put something together on appeals forthcoming before the Irish Supreme Court. That's what I was doing when I was spotted the list date for the N appeal. Stay tuned.