Court of Criminal Appeal (Ireland)

The Court of Criminal Appeal (Irish: An Chúirt Achomhairc Choiriúil) of Ireland heard appeals of indictable offences tried in the Circuit Court, the Central Criminal Court and the Special Criminal Court.

The Court sat in a division of three, with one Supreme Court judge and two High Court judges.

The court could hear appeals by a defendant against conviction, against sentence or against sentence and conviction. The Director of Public Prosecutions could also appeal against a sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient.

A further appeal to the Supreme Court only lay when the Court of Criminal Appeal itself or the Attorney General certified that a point of law of exceptional public importance needed to be resolved.

The Court of Criminal Appeal was replaced on November 5 by the Court of Appeal (established under the Court of Appeal Act 2014) which has taken on all appellate hearings of the Court of Criminal Appeals, as well as many backlogged Supreme Court cases.

External links

• Court of Criminal Appeal - Courts Service of Ireland
• Court of Appeal Act, 2014 - Irish Statute Book