Patrick McGreal

The Constitution of Ireland begins not with government, but with the Nation—with the People themselves. That is not symbolism. That is authority. It is from the People that all power flows, and it is by our collective will that we established the Constitution as the supreme law of this State. Within it, we gave ourselves courts—not as instruments of control, but as guardians of liberty. Under Article 34, we vested those courts with a solemn duty: to protect and vindicate our personal rights. Those personal rights are not abstract ideas. They are expressly recognised and protected across the Constitution—beginning in Article 40, and extending through Articles 41, 42, 42A, 43, and 44. Together, they safeguard what it means to live freely and with dignity in Ireland: our personal liberty, our families, our children, our right to educate according to conscience, our private property, and our freedom of religion. These rights do not exist at the pleasure of the State. They do not depend on policy, preference, or administrative convenience. They are fundamental, and they are inalienable. What we are witnessing at this moment is something profoundly serious. A member of the Government—holding office as a Minister of State, an office that exists only by statute—has purported, through a statutory instrument, to prevent the People of Ireland from exercising their constitutional rights in their own courts. That cannot stand. No statutory instrument can override the Constitution. No minister, junior or otherwise, can suspend fundamental rights. No act of secondary legislation can lawfully obstruct access to the courts where those rights are vindicated. To suggest otherwise is not merely mistaken—it is constitutionally impossible. The courts do not belong to the executive. They do not belong to departments. They belong to the People, because the Constitution says so. And so, this is where the line is drawn. The Constitution is not optional. Fundamental rights are not negotiable. Access to justice is not a privilege to be rationed. Tomorrow, the law will be laid plainly before the Minister for Justice—not in defiance, but in fidelity to the Constitution; not in anger, but in duty to the People; not for personal grievance, but for the protection of all. Because if fundamental rights can be restrained today, they can be extinguished tomorrow. And if we do not stand now, we leave our children standing alone later. This is not about power. It is about principle. It is about ensuring that the Constitution lives—not on paper, but in practice. And it is about the furtherance of our fundamental rights, so that we may protect ourselves, our families, our children, the way we educate our children, our private property, and our religion—today, and for generations to come. #NoFeeOnGuarantee – at Ireland

A national newspaper told the public I was charged with assault, obstruction and threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour. None of those words says what I actually did. They are offence labels copied from charge sheets that state no act, yet they reached the public as though they described real events, before any trial: 👇 patrickmcgreal.substack.com/… #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

The truth lives in the facts, and the law still gives us a way to be heard. One judge in the High Court has closed off the civil process that would have let the actions of certain Garda members and Courts Service staff be examined on the facts and judicially determined. That door may be shut, but the search for the truth hasn't ended. The Oireachtas did not leave the people of Ireland without a remedy. Under the criminal law, any member of the public can bring wrongdoing before the courts in their own name. The District Court is still open. Beyond it are the Circuit Criminal Court and, where the matter is serious enough, the Central Criminal Court. Our elected representatives put these paths into law for exactly the moment when other doors close. Nobody is above the rules they swore to uphold. A Garda member or court official who acts outside the law must answer for it personally, in a court where evidence is tested and a decision is made on what actually happened. Ignoring the facts doesn't make them disappear. So I will keep going, calmly and lawfully, one step at a time. Learn your rights, read the law for yourself, and don't accept that a closed door is the end of the road. Justice depends on ordinary people who are willing to put the facts on the record and let the law do its work. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice #TruthInTheFacts #PrivateProsecution

The Irish Times has published a story based on the judgment of Mr Justice Brian Cregan. There is another side to the events that judgment describes, and I intend to set it out in a court of law, where evidence can be tested under oath. On 11 October 2024, at the Central Office of the High Court, I was falsely imprisoned and assaulted. I name those I hold responsible as Courts Service staff members Kim Duffy, Colin Shorthall and Samuel, together with George Magdelina, a Garda member who is now suspended, and four other Garda members. On 11 November 2024, at the same office, I was again assaulted, and I say Kim Duffy and George Magdelina assaulted me causing harm. These are serious allegations and I do not make them lightly. I have laid sworn informations before the Dublin Metropolitan District Court so that each person can answer for their conduct according to law. Everyone is entitled to a fair hearing, and I am entitled to mine. Personal liberty and bodily integrity are not suspended at the door of a court office, and nobody working inside one is above the law that protects them. I will pursue this in the open, through the proper criminal process, and I will keep the public informed as it moves forward. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

How Can Your Council Help You? Every council area in Ireland has needs that go unheard. A footpath nobody fixes, a street light that stays dark, a crossing that never comes. One complaint on its own is easily forgotten, but when many people raise the same need, it becomes something that can't be ignored. The Constitution recognises your council as a forum for the democratic representation of your community, and the law gives your elected councillors real tools to act. What's missing is a clear picture of what people actually need. I'm gathering needs from all 31 council areas across Ireland. It takes less than a minute. Just two questions: which council area you live in, and what you need your council to do. No name, no email and no sign-in required. Every week I'll count what comes in and publish what I find: 👇 patrickmcgreal.substack.com/… #HowCanYourCouncilHelpYou #LocalGovernment #CommunityVoice #FundamentalRightsMatter #Ireland

Asking the High Court for Directions Before I Give Information to a District Court Judge On 16 October 2026 I delivered a letter by hand to the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána. I gave notice that I would lay sworn informations before a Judge of the District Court in Dublin alleging false imprisonment and assault causing harm, and I asked that specified Garda records be preserved and produced to the court. The reply did not come from the Commissioner. On 3 November 2026 the Chief State Solicitor's Office wrote to me instead. A solicitor employed in that office, a civil servant, described my intended application to a judge as "collateral and vexatious" and linked it to civil proceedings in the High Court. Civil proceedings are separate from the criminal jurisdiction of the District Court. The Oireachtas gave every member of the public the right to give information to a District Court judge, and it gave the District Court the jurisdiction to decide what happens next. The Court of Appeal has recognised that the District Court can be trusted with the criminal jurisdiction the Oireachtas has entrusted to it. I can find no law that gives the Chief State Solicitor's Office any role in a criminal matter before the District Court. That letter caused me to step back on 6 November. Rather than risk acting against any order of the court, I have now asked the High Court for directions so that I can proceed with certainty. The folder linked below holds three documents: my email to the High Court, the letter I received from the Chief State Solicitor's Office, and my letter to the Commissioner of 16 October: drive.google.com/drive/folde… #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

The Third Complaint Is Being Prepared Over the next few days I will be studying the Data Catalogue for Key Criminal Justice System Datasets, an assessment of the efficiency of bail laws in Ireland, and the relevant case law, to show how modern technology and records already held can identify when citizens of Ireland are deprived of their personal liberty otherwise than in accordance with law. I aim to have my third Article 40 complaint filed early next week, grounded on affidavit with legal submissions. Each complaint identifies what the next must achieve. Step by step, the aim is a full enquiry by the High Court, because this is a systemic, structural problem in the administration of justice. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Only the Oireachtas Makes Our Criminal Law, So Who Is Writing the Charges? Article 40.1 of the Constitution holds all citizens equal before the law, and the Equal Status Act 2000 protects us from discrimination, including on the ground of nationality. The Constitution goes further. The State guarantees by its laws to defend and vindicate our personal rights (Article 40.3), and no citizen shall be deprived of personal liberty save in accordance with law (Article 40.4.1°). Article 15.2.1° gives the sole and exclusive power of making laws to the Oireachtas. Only the Oireachtas can create a criminal offence. Yet individuals within Garda management, the Office of the DPP, the law officers and the Courts Service have created their own offence wording from those laws, approved it, coded it and handed it back to be used against us. Garda members then accuse citizens with that wording, which states no word spoken and no act done, and citizens are convicted and imprisoned on admissions to it. I say that is unconstitutional and unlawful. No enactment and no Government policy provides for it. I allege that citizens of Ireland are being deprived of their personal liberty otherwise than in accordance with law because of what those individuals chose to do, acting outside the law and outside what they are paid to do. That is the complaint now before the High Court. The Constitution belongs to the people, and so do our courts. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Evidence in Hand, I Stand Before the High Court Today for Citizens of Ireland Today at 12 noon, the High Court has directed me to attend in my complaint under Article 40.4.2° of the Constitution, record number H.SS.2026.0001758. I will be there with evidence in hand, ready to give it on oath, on behalf of citizens of Ireland who I allege are unlawfully detained in prisons across the country. The Constitution gives its guarantee expressly to the citizen: no citizen shall be deprived of his personal liberty save in accordance with law. The High Court itself has said that in a democratic society governed by the rule of law, the liberty of the individual citizen is of paramount importance. Here is how these citizens came to be charged. An individual in An Garda Síochána drafts offence wording from a statute. An individual in the DPP's office approves it. An individual in the Courts Service codes it and enters it on the Criminal Case Tracking System. It goes back to An Garda Síochána for PULSE. Garda members then use it to accuse citizens of offences, word for word, with no word spoken and no act done stated anywhere. Having read the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974 and the Courts Service Act 1998, I have found no provision for that chain, and I know of no Government policy that provides for it. Each step is a choice made by an individual, not a requirement of law. District Court judges then convict on admissions of the truth of that wording, without any fact stated and without hearing evidence. Citizens are in prison on that basis today. My thanks to Mr Justice Cregan and the Courts Service for facilitating this complaint. Today the evidence goes before the High Court. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Our Courts Service Is Funded for a Digital Justice System It Has Not Delivered The Appropriation Act 2025 voted €165,793,000 to the Courts Service and the courts for 2025, under Vote 22. On top of that, it may apply a further €35,032,000 from its own receipts, which include the court fees we pay. That's over €200 million. The Oireachtas has done its part. Part 3 of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 provides for documents to be filed electronically and for statements of truth to be used in place of affidavits. The law is in place, and the money has been voted. So what can a citizen actually do on the Courts Portal today? A limited range of matters, mostly family law in the Circuit Court. Criminal and civil proceedings in the District Court and the Circuit Court, and the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, are left largely untouched by the system the law already allows. Every week, people travel hours to a public office to lodge a single document that could be filed in seconds. A working digital portal across every court would serve every court user, from Cobh to Letterkenny, from Galway Bay to Dublin Bay. The law allows it. The money is there. What is missing is delivery. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Why Can Only Lawyers Reach Our High Court Judges Online? Every email from the High Court Chancery Division carries a notice: virtual courtroom login details for individual High Court judges are available at two websites. Both are for members of the Law Library and the Law Society only. Citizens who come before the Court in their own right are shut out. Today I wrote to the Principal Officer of the High Court Chancery Division asking for the same access on the same terms, under Articles 34.1, 40.1, 40.3 and 40.4.2° of the Constitution. Justice is administered in public. All citizens are equal before the law. Article 40.4.2° lets any person bring a complaint to any judge. The courtroom door cannot open only for lawyers. I will publish the reply. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Tomorrow I Answer the High Court's Call for Citizens of Ireland Yesterday the High Court gave my Article 40.4.2° complaint a record number and placed it before Mr Justice Cregan. Today the Court asked whether I wish to proceed in person or on the papers. My answer: in person. I have told the Court I am available from 11 a.m. tomorrow, and ready to give sworn testimony on behalf of citizens of Ireland held in prison on admissions to charges that state no word spoken and no act done. One citizen, one email, one constitutional right, and the High Court is listening. Article 40.4.2° belongs to every one of us. Tomorrow I stand up for it, for them, and for all of us. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Update: Article 40.4.2° Complaint for Citizens of Ireland Now Has a Record Number At 16:00 today I had to send a further email reminding the Courts Service that citizens of Ireland are entitled to be held equal before the law, and that a complaint made on their behalf can never receive less than one made on behalf of any other person. At 16:37, thirty-seven minutes later, the Courts Service replied. My complaint of Sunday 8 November has been received, brought to the attention of Mr Justice Cregan, and given the record number H.SS.2026.0001758. A further response will issue in due course. It took that reminder of equality before the law before receipt was confirmed and a record number issued. Citizens should never have to remind anyone of it. The complaint is now on the record and before a judge of the High Court. The Constitution requires that it be enquired into forthwith. I will publish what happens next. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Two Ministers Have Put a Price on Our Constitutional Rights The Constitution says the State guarantees, by its laws, to defend and vindicate the personal rights of every citizen. Our personal liberty, our good name, our homes, our freedom to speak. A guarantee. Not a product. Not a service for sale. Yet the Minister for Justice, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, keeps in force a fees order that charges us before the High Court, the only court that can declare those rights violated, will hear us. And S.I. 465 of 2026 went further, removing claims under Article 40.4.1°, the guarantee of personal liberty itself, from the fee exemption. Think about what that means. The State promises to protect us, and two Ministers send us the bill when we ask it to keep its promise. The wealthy can afford their rights. The rest of us are priced out of them. A guarantee we must pay to enforce is no guarantee at all. It is a toll on justice, and every citizen of Ireland is paying it. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Your Email Can Reach a High Court Judge This High Court order records something every citizen should know. On 26 October 2026 I emailed a complaint of unlawful detention under Article 40.4.2° of the Constitution. A judge of the High Court read it, and every email and document that followed, and gave judgment on 30 October without my attending. It was refused, but it was heard. No fee. No solicitor. No affidavit. No journey to Dublin. Just an email to the High Court list registrars: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] Say who is detained, where they are held, and why you believe the detention is unlawful. That is all the Article asks. Article 40.4.2° says a complaint may be made by or on behalf of any person, to the High Court or any judge of it, and the Court shall forthwith enquire. It does not ask for wealth, status or permission. That door is open to every one of us, for ourselves and for each other. #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee #OpenJustice

Help Map How Criminal Charges Are Worded Across Ireland Have you received a summons, a charge sheet or an indictment? I am carrying out a national study of how criminal charges are worded in prosecutions brought throughout the State. In particular, I am looking at how many charges are stated only in approved offence wording, which sets out the legal definition of an offence but does not state what the person is said to have actually done. Every document helps to build an accurate national picture of what people are being asked to answer in our courts. Send a clear photo of your summons, charge sheet or indictment by WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to 085 205 0563, or by email to [email protected]. Before you send it, please cover your name, address, date of birth and any other personal details. Only the wording of the charge is needed. Every county, every court, every charge counts. #OpenJustice #FundamentalRightsMatter #NoFeeOnStateGuarantee

Court TV Ireland Launches in 113 days The countdown is on. 🇮🇪⚖️ The Oireachtas makes the law, and its debates are broadcast so the people can see it being made. But the meaning of that law is decided in our courts, and most people never see that happen. From 1 March 2027, Court TV Ireland will report on how the law is interpreted and applied. It will cover the Central Criminal Court and the Four Courts, and as many Circuit and District Courts across Ireland as it can reach. It will explain the procedures, the rules behind them and the judgments that shape them, in plain words, so that every citizen can follow how justice is administered in their name. Justice is administered in public under Article 34.1 of the Constitution. Court TV Ireland will bring that public administration of justice to the public. Transparency, accountability and open justice, for everyone. #CourtTVIreland #OpenJustice #FundamentalRightsMatter