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A BRITISH LAWYER has launched a crowdfunding campaign to challenge Article 50 – the process of the UK leaving the European Union – in the Irish High Court.
Jolyon Maugham QC, who is based in London, had campaigned against Brexit.
He launched the online campaign tonight and is hoping to raise £70,000 (about €83,000) to cover the costs of an action in the High Court here. It will aim to establish whether an Article 50 notification sent by the UK would be revocable at a future date.
The defendants would be the Irish State, the European Council and the European Commission and the plaintiffs would be UK MEPs.
On Wednesday, MPs backed a vote to trigger Article 50 by next March.
A statement released by Maughan tonight said: “The claim alleges that Article 50 may, in fact, already have been triggered. If it has been triggered then the Commission is in breach of its Treaty duties through wrongly refusing to commence negotiations with the UK. But if it has not, the Council and Irish State are in breach of their Treaty duties in wrongly excluding the United Kingdom from Council meetings.
“The plaintiffs will say that they suffer a prospective deprivation of their rights associated with these breaches. And that to resolve these disputes it will be necessary to refer certain questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union.”
‘People deserve answers’
Speaking about his decision to launch the campaign, Maugham said:
“Put aside the legal niceties, what no one can dispute is that there are incredibly important questions to answer.
Should Parliament control the terms on which we Brexit? Could we have a referendum on the final deal – or is the consequence of triggering Article 50 that we will leave the EU whatever the terms? By triggering Article 50, does the UK also leave the EEA, or is there a separate decision to make about whether we remain in the European Economic Area and Single Market?
“Everyone – those who voted leave and remain; the people and government of Ireland – deserves to know the answer to these questions. People must plan their lives. Businesses need certainty to invest.
“The people of Ireland are entitled to a government that can work for the best possible future for Ireland. It’s right that we all have the maximum certainty that the law can give. And referring these questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union is the only way to deliver that certainty.”
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FFS give it a rest. Brexit has happened, time to move on. Let’s respect democracy. Lisbon and nice come to mind in my jealousy of the UK getting the flock out of the crumbling dodge.
Can somebody explain EXACTLY what Brexit means to a range of political opinions?
Brexit hasn’t happened. Brexit is much more than a vote result.
I think it’s fair enough that there should be at three-way vote on whatever deal arises. There should be a choice of not proceeding, proceeding with the deal and proceeding without the deal. Once Britain’s exit deal is clear the consequences are more visible.
The problem is that we don’t know if Article 50 is reversible.
@Chris Mansfield: The UK parliament voted already to go ahead with Brexit, so now it just needs to be decided if this means stay or leave the single market and common tarrif programme.
Lawyers looking for clients to take case that lawyers want to take.
It’s crowd funded…it helps if you actually read the story rather than the headline
Boganity – yes and Michael’s point still stands, the lawyers are looking for other people to finance it. People may have more respect if they put up their own bloody money.
I can understand the cynical comment but do people understand what the.point of the potential case is? It’s about whether or not article 50 has or has not been technically triggered already. If it has, then this is a case against ireland.
Why don’t ye F×ck off and leave us alone. We’ve our shite to be dealing with..
Exactly DMurph
Why Ireland?
Why British MPs as Plaintiffs?
Why claim that Article 50 has already been triggered? What is the basis for that?
@Micheal OLainn: I’d say he picked Ireland so he wouldn’t have to bother with translations from and to English.
Ireland is a common law state with a legal system similar to the UK, and Ireland has much to lose under Brexit.
It is British MEPs not MPs.
Article 50 may have been triggered by the fact that both the UK Government and House of Commons have stated that the UK will leave the EU.
They have chosen Ireland as the believe, in my opinion, that the Irish courts will be more likely to refer the point on to the ECJ than the British courts.
I think because Britain has already been snubbed at a dinner and been refused involvement in a meeting of ministers on the basis that they were leaving so shouldn’t have influence
@Micheal OLainn: On the basis that Britain has already marked out its intention to leave the EU without stating exactly when this will happen. The prime Minister has to sort this out with her own parliament before Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is triggered. Then is will take another couple of years to sort out the divorce etc.
Although I think that Brexit is bad for The UK and especially so for Northern Ireland and even though Brexit will have severely damaging effect on Ireland, I think that there are major jurisdictional, locus standing and cause of action problems with this intended legal action.
I’m not convinced.
Is this another Journal fake news story like the one on the pope and coprophilia a few days ago ?
@Micheal OLainn: It will remain to be seen how much damage Brexit will cause to the Northern Ireland economy, at the moment Enniskillen is going through really wtough times finding parking spaces for all the southern shoppers.
A QC trying to crowdfund this action. He and his mates could buy and sell the rest of us and they want the public to fund them in their game?
Time to utter the usual invitation to go away in jerky movements.
I think Brexit is a huge mistake, but the people have spoken and the result, however wrong it is, was democratic. The court case in the UK is a point of UK law and the sovereignty of Parliament and not trying to stop article 50 being triggered.
They are trying to use the irish courts system to access the European Court of law and we should tell them to get lost. The majority of UK citizens voted to leave the EU and they should be heard and their wishes carried out.
Rumour has it that Enda is the star witness.
@Alex Falcone:
Sock puppets and crayons working overtime,followed by his advisor having a spell in a psychiatric unit..
I hope Birtain does leave. It might speed up the process of a United Ireland
*Britain
@Just Some Guy: and then where will the 20 billion currently paid NI by the rest of the UK to keep the show on the road come from (yes I know it nets out at 8 billion but we’re borrowing 9 billion a year just to service the Bankster Debt so again, where will the money come from?)?
He is wasting money, how can aother country as in here have an effect on a referendum that has taken part in another country, it is crazy in my view?
So pathetic that the will of the people can’t be accepted.
That’s fine. But for my 2 UK based daughters and their wide range of friends it’s not clear what Brexit actually means. All the way back to the pre EEC ’60′s or some dilution of what currently exists?
All have different definitions and objectives. Even Boris, Nigel and the PM are all different. Therefore it seems reasonable to thrash it out in Parliament. Not satisfactory but the main protagonists don’t appear to have consensus.
It’s one thing from them to know what they want from Brexit, it’s another to know what the rest of the EU is willing to give them. Britain is not the ó ly country with doubts about continued EU involvement and i expect they won’t want to make it easy on the British to highlight what happens when we’re naughty and don’t do as we’re told by the pencil pushers, not the elected representatives
Deep down all MP’s know full well Brexit will be disastrous for UK economy.
And Referendum victory margin was so tight, and attributable to lies peddled at the eleventh hour by Farage and Boris on that famous London Bus regarding level of funding paid weekly to EU by UK, that they should now make it best of three!
This combined with an EU commitment to halt the influx of refugees into Europe, would calm frayed nerves and serve as first signal of major reforms for the EU project.
The challenge raises a question about the nature of the limits to the Royal Prerogative.
This is a political issue. The courts should not involve themselves.
@Alex Falcone: you are confused with the UK case. There is no reference in this case to the Royal Prerogative which is one of the issues being addressed in the case currently before the UK Supreme Court.
@Micheal OLainn:
Granted.
Same substance though.
The British f@€k off. They have never been happy with anything. At least the EU will be rid of their wining
@Blackwater: The problem was the U.K. really wanted to run the E.U. in the same way as Germany is doing and that was the problem…
It the UK had to run the EU like they run their British Empire, the EU would have collapsed a long time ago.
Robbing oppressing the country’s they invaded.
Committed genocide and enslaved where ever they went.
Talking some British Citizens, they think everything is gonna be ok and they are gonna return to the British Empire days.
I have profess, I think it’s complete madness, but hey leave them off.
The EU has many faults, but at least it’s way better than what the British empire handed out over hundreds of years.
At least the EU has united Europe. Europe has never had it this good in the History of Europe. where the British only took what they could.
And the British is complaining about it.
If the British could carry commit genocide during their empire days, just think what they would do if they ran the EU.
http://listverse.com/2014/02/04/10-evil-crimes-of-the-british-empire/
Points about the British Empire well made but I have to say looking at the way the Greeks were treated, and ourselves, and Italy soon to follow it is clear that the EU is a failed project and very anti democracy. The euro has been a disaster, and looking at the Hungarian’s treatment of the immigrants I don’t see much progression since WW11. What have we gained and lost? Our fishing industry is gone to foreign trawlers and for all the benefits we still have massive debt, inequality, a deplorable health care system and a level of homelessness which make us all deeply ashamed as a nation. Time we took responsibility for ourselves and returned to the values that we once had about caring for one another and not just ourselves. Europe will just further entrench the idea of making wealthy people wealthier and everyone else pay, no matter the cost.
@Blackwater: Let’s not forget that by 1860 60% of the British Army were Irish born and something like 80% of the Raj…
Slow day at An Phoblacht?
Blackwater, you do realise that misusing and repeating the word ‘genocide’ meme-like just makes you look like a YouTube troll, right?
@Harry, it’s not miss using it, it’s fact! Your argument falls on deaf ears.
@Harry, basically, you are defending the grotesque act of Genocide by making a statement of such nature
According to the UK’s unwritten constitution only Parliament can make laws. Referenda are thus, however persuasive they may be, never compelling. I think it’s partly the reason UK citizens, though having the vote here for all else bar the Presidency (because the Monarch isn’t elected) don’t have the vote in Irish referenda, which are binding upon the lawmakers. Theoretically. Given that the People vote the ‘right’ way; in practice.
No locus standi see ya
@DMurph, well said, you saved me the trouble of saying it.
The EU is doomed, even Cameron who had to resign for backing the wrong horse on the Brexit issue has said that the Euro is heading for collapse and continental elections next year will hasten the collapse of the whole mess. Maybe the Common Market could be revived with safeguards against it being hijacked by unelected totalitarians like Junker et al.
@MackPilon: __ Cameron had to resign to walk away from the insanity that he instigated by allowing a referendum. I say walked, but it was more hobbled, he having shot himself in both feet. The UK’s more doomed than the EU, selling a majority share of the national grid to the Chinese being an example of more madness.
Hewould be wastibg his time, Gina Miller has beat him to it in support of ex-pat Brits.
Ever see a bad advert you were drawn to?
Nobody does this unless they had a bad exposure
Lawyers and politicians not doing the peoples will .,and looking for money nothing strange there ,Hope they all go Ninth Circle of Hell , Round 4 is named Judecca after Judas Iscariot,,
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