Sinéad Gibney

The man, known only as V, was prevented from marrying his fiancée last year following an application to the High Court to have him made a ward of court.

The president of the High Court granted an injunction to prevent the ceremony from going ahead after hearing concerns about V’s capacity to marry.

V’s lawyers argued that a wardship inquiry was not the appropriate forum to determine his capacity to marry, because the legal tests for wardship and for the decision-making capacity to marry are different. People who are wards of court are prevented from marrying by the Marriage of Lunatics 1811.

V challenged the president of the High Court’s decision to hear the wardship inquiry before determining whether or not V had capacity to marry. When this challenge came before the Court of Appeal, the wardship proceedings were put on hold.

V’s legal team is now challenging the constitutionality of High Court’s wardship jurisdiction and the 1811 Act, and whether they are compatible with the European Convention of Human Rights and Ireland’s disability rights obligations.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has joined the case as amicus curiae to assist the High Court with submissions about the rights of people with disabilities under the Irish Constitution, the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the ECHR.

Chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney said: “This case is an important challenge to the restrictions of rights of persons with disabilities. The right to marry and admission to wardship are significant issues for people with disabilities across Ireland. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that the State should recognise that people with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.

“It’s shameful that, in part because the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act has still not been commenced, we have a law passed in Westminster 200 years ago setting out how people with disabilities should be treated in Ireland in 2020.

“This legislative relic shows that we need to start taking the rights of people with disabilities seriously in line with our commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which views the rights of disabled people through a lens of dignity, agency and participation.”