NI: Bid to block no-deal Brexit on basis of Good Friday Agreement to be heard by UK Supreme Court

NI: Bid to block no-deal Brexit on basis of Good Friday Agreement to be heard by UK Supreme Court

Ciaran O'Hare

A legal bid to stop a no-deal Brexit on the basis that it would breach the Good Friday Agreement will be heard by the UK Supreme Court tomorrow.

Belfast solicitor Ciaran O’Hare of McIvor Farrell Solicitors said the case brought by victims’ rights campaigner Raymond McCord had “moved with unprecedented speed”.

The High Court in Belfast dismissed Mr McCord’s application last week, finding that the subject matter was “inherently and unmistakeably political” and therefore non-justiciable.

Mr McCord’s case is one of a number of Brexit-related judicial review cases which will be heard by Supreme Court judges from Tuesday to Thursday.

Mr O’Hare has instructed Ronan Lavery QC, Conan Fegan BL and Richard Smyth BL in relation to the proceedings.

Commenting on the case, Mr O’Hare said: “I have been working on this case day and night and although it has been exhausting to date, I know that this is the only chance of voicing Northern Ireland’s concerns.

“My client is concerned that we have no functioning Executive and therefore, no-one is properly voicing the catastrophic effect that a no-deal Brexit will have on Northern Ireland.”

He added: “I anticipate that the Supreme Court will provide judgment in respect of my client’s case quite quickly after the hearing this week, given the looming date on which we are supposed to depart from the European Union.”

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