Sittings Outside Dublin
The seat of the Supreme Court is the Four Courts in Dublin city. However, the Supreme Court occasionally sits outside of Dublin to hear cases and engage in outreach with local legal, history and academic communities. Following the success of sittings in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Letterkenny, the Supreme Court hopes to continue the practice of sitting in different locations around Ireland.
Cork
At the Court’s first sitting outside of Dublin in 2015 in Washington Street Courthouse, Cork, the then Chief Justice, Ms. Justice Susan Denham noted that as the nation approached the first centennial anniversary of its creation, it was timely that the Supreme Court sit in locations in the State, in addition to the Four Courts.
Limerick
In March 2018, the Supreme Court travelled to Limerick city to sit at the newly constructed Courthouse located at Mulgrave Street. In addition to hearing cases and delivering judgment, the Court collaborated closely with the University of Limerick, Limerick Solicitors Bar Association and members of the Bar of Ireland South Western Circuit.
The then Chief Justice, Frank Clarke remarked:
“As the Court moves to its new constitutional role of concentrating on those cases which are of general public importance it is, in my view, all the more vital that the Court is seen as a Court for all the people and not just Dublin. If the cases are of general public importance, then they are, by default, important to all of the public.”
Galway
In 2019, the Supreme Court travelled to Galway, where it sat for the first time in a university. The Court heard appeals, delivered a judgment and launched its inaugural annual report. Members of the Supreme Court delivered seminars organised by the School of Law at NUI Galway and collaborated with the Galway Solicitors Bar Association and local members of the Bar of Ireland.
Waterford and Kilkenny
In 2020, the Supreme Court visited the South East of Ireland, where it sat in Waterford and Kilkenny courthouses.
In Waterford, the Chief Justice acknowledged the role of Waterford’s John J. Hearne in the drafting of the Constitution of Ireland, 1937:
“It is often said that victory has many parents but defeat is an orphan. I think that we can count the Irish Constitution as having been a success by any measure and its adoption a victory. There may, therefore, be many who would claim to be its parent or its continuing guardian at least. But, on behalf of the Supreme Court, which is after all the guardian of the Constitution and the ultimate enforcer of the rights and obligations for which it provides, it is important that we acknowledge that we sit today for the first time in the home city of its most distinguished parent, John Hearne.”
In the South East, members of the Court participated in events at Waterford Institute of Technology and engaged with the Waterford Law Society, Kilkenny Solicitors Bar Association and the South Eastern Bar. The Court collaborated with the Citizens Information Board on an event involving local civil society organisations and visited secondary schools for a series of ‘Comhrá Live’ events with local secondary school students, meeting them in person to talk about, and answer questions on, the work of the Supreme Court and their roles as judges.
Letterkenny
In April 2025, the Supreme Court sat to hear an appeal in Letterkenny Courthouse, Donegal, marking its first sitting in the Northwest and its first sitting outside of Dublin since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before hearing a case of general public importance, the eight members of the Court sat for the delivery of a statement by the Chief Justice.
Speaking from the bench, the Chief Justice said:
“What we are doing today in hearing a case is, in itself, a precious thing. The administration of justice in public under the Constitution means that any citizen of Ireland can come in and see the administration of justice in any court in Ireland – [they] can see the argument of counsel, the evidence of witnesses and hear and read the decisions, or in the case of the Supreme Court, the reasons for the decision.
That is something that is both precious and valuable, but also fragile. The purpose, in many ways, of the Court sitting outside Dublin is not just [to give] people an opportunity to see the Supreme Court, but it is a demonstration of the fact that the protection of the rule of law and the performance of the rule of law and the performance of justice is a job for every day.
The rule of law is something that has life and reality in every court in every courthouse on every day.”
The Chief Justice concluded his statement by thanking the courthouse staff, the practitioners present, and all those involved in facilitating a significant programme of outreach which the Court engaged in while in Letterkenny, including a visit to the Law Faculty of the Atlantic Technological University, a meeting with the local branch of the Citizen's Information service, and a CPD event with local members of the practicing legal professions.