Sir, – The civil court of appeal is about 40 years overdue. It is ridiculous that a court with the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court should have to decide some important constitutional issue that affects every citizen, one day; while the next it has to consider if the award to Mrs Brown for her slip and fall is adequate.
The delay in establishing this court is due to the Constitution containing specific directions as to the courts as opposed to giving the Oireachtas general powers to establish whatever courts are required for the administration of justice.
This delay highlights the inconvenience and dangers of having specifics in the Constitution. Recent examples of this are divorce and abortion. We were denied the civil right of divorce until 1996 as a result of a specific ban in the Constitution. A 1983 amendment to the Constitution which was supposed to copper-fasten the illegality of abortion actually resulted in the legalisation of same. – Yours, etc,
TIM BRACKEN,
Pope’s Quay,
Cork.