E.C. v Ireland and The Attorney General (Approved)

I.                   Introduction

            By s. 73(1) of the Mental Health Act 2001 ('the Act of 2001') no civil proceedings shall be instituted in respect of an act purporting to have been done in pursuance of that Act save by leave of the High Court. In this appeal, the Court is required to interpret that provision and to determine the consequences of any non-compliance therewith.

II.                Background

            On 23 December 2022, solicitors acting on behalf of E.C. (hereafter 'the Respondent' or, where appropriate, 'the Plaintiff') caused to have issued out of the Central Office of the High Court a Plenary Summons in proceedings entitled " The High Court Record No. 2022/6528P Between T..... N.... Plaintiff and Health Service Executive and Peter Whitty Defendants and Ireland and Attorney General and Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Notice Parties. "� That Plenary Summons was indorsed as follows:

     A Declaration that the Plaintiff's treatment with depot neuroleptic medication without his full and/or proper and/or lawful or any consent thereto, and despite his express refusal thereof, by the Second Defendant, or his servants or agents, at the First Defendant's Hospital, and without a proper assessment and/or determination that he lacks functional capacity to consent to such treatment by reason of his mental disorder: