High Court clarifies circumstances where a judicially reviewed
tender may nonetheless be fully implemented pending trial.
Atlantic Endeavour Ltd SMBT Ltd (trading as Skellig Michael Boat
Trips) -v- Office of Public Works.
Introduction
RDJ acted for 12 boats servicing the UNESCO protected Sceilg
Mhichíl, which gained Worldwide fame in recent years after
featuring prominently in the Star Wars franchise. Our clients were
the incumbent tenderers who were successfully reappointed under a
2025 tender process. RDJ represented them in a Judicial Review
(“JR”) challenge taken by three unsuccessful tenderers
to that process.
As the JR was commenced during the “standstill”
period following the tender award, an automatic suspension kicked
in which prevented the award of the contract pending the outcome of
the JR. As was widely publicised, this led to a situation where,
despite huge tourist demand, no boat trips to Sceilg Mhichíl
were possible, even after the season opened
