Master's Court Hilary Term 2022
In advance of the commencement of the 2022 Hilary Term, the Courts Service wishes to advise practitioners and lay litigants of the operational changes that will be in place for this new term.
Due to the public health guidelines currently in place the Master's Court will continue to be limited to a maximum of 50 matters per day of hearing with time slots allocated for matters listed for hearing.
The Master's List of matters for hearing is published in the Legal Diary each Thursday for the following week. The one way entry and exit system will continue to apply.
Practitioner and lay litigants should note the following procedures:
1. Consent applications
Consent applications must be made in person to the Master at the time that the matter is listed.
2. Adjournment day
There will be specific dates allocated for matters to be adjourned to by consent or otherwise. These dates will be notified by the Court on each day of hearing.
Due to the restrictions on the number of matters which can be heard each day due to public health guidelines, applications for adjournments to days which are at full capacity cannot be accepted.
3. Ex Parte Applications
Applications to the Master's Court on an ex parte basis must be notified in advance by emailing a soft copy of the stamped ex parte docket to the Registrar of the Master's Court. The Registrar will then allocate a day and time for the application to be heard by the Master
The grounding Affidavit should be filed in the Central Office as usual.
Ex parte applications without a High Court Record number or applications brought before the Court without prior notice or approval by the Registrar will be refused.
There will be a limited number of time slots reserved each Wednesday and Thursday for ex parte applications, which will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Once those allocated slots have been filled it will not be possible to add further matters to the list. Parties seeking a date for an ex parte application to the Master are encouraged to give as much notice as possible to the Master’s Registrar.
Practitioners and lay litigants are specifically advised that the imminent expiry of a Summons or the fact that proceedings will become statute barred are, of themselves, not sufficient grounds for ex parte applications to be allocated a hearing at very short notice.
4. Email correspondence to the Master's Court
To facilitate more efficient access to the Master's Court, the Court Service is pleased to announce that there is a dedicated email address for the Master's Court: HighCourtMaster@courts.ie
Practitioners and lay litigants are encouraged to use this email address only when making enquiries in relation to matters listed in the Master’s Court.