Patrick J. Kelly v. The Minister For Agriculture

The recent judgement of the Supreme Court in Patrick J. Kelly v. the Minister for Agriculture and others, quashed the dismissal of the former harbour master, Mr. Patrick Kelly (the “Employee”), on the basis that the decision was tainted by objective bias.

This is an important judgement for a number of reasons. Not only because of the protracted nature of the legal proceedings, which, as described by Justice Charleton “involved a saga of four years of investigation…an appeal process spread over three days, ten days of argument in the High Court and two in the Court of Appeal.” It also highlights the pervasive effect that an objective perception of bias can have on a decision-making process.