The Supreme Court is set to consider the proper overall approach
to discovery where the burden of complying with discovery is likely
to be significant.
Discovery issues rarely reach the Supreme Court as that Court
only hears appeals on matters of general public importance or where
the interests of justice require that the appeal be heard by the
Supreme Court.
However, the Court has decided to hear an appeal from a 2018 decision of the Court of Appeal in which
the Court narrowed the scope of discovery that had been ordered by
the High Court. Delivering the judgment for the Court of Appeal,
Judge Hogan stated that there is something "seriously
amiss" with the discovery system as it currently operates in
Ireland. He held that, in cases where the documentation sought is
likely to be extensive, judges should refuse to grant an order for
discovery unless all other avenues (such as interrogatories and
notices to admit facts) have been exhausted and these have been
shown
