Board of Governors of Loreto Grammar School’s Application
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | McCloskey J |
| Judgment Date | 25 March 2011 |
| Neutral Citation | [2011] NIQB 30 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
| Date | 25 March 2011 |
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Neutral Citation No. [2011] NIQB 30 Ref:
McCL8131
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down Delivered:
25/03/11
(subject to editorial corrections)*
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
______
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION (JUDICIAL REVIEW)
________
Board of Governors of Loreto Grammar School’s Application [2011] NIQB 30
IN THE MATTER of an Application by the Board of Governors
of Loreto Grammar School (Omagh)
for Judicial Review
________
INDEX
Subject Paragraph No.
1. The Loreto Order of Nuns 1
2. The Contours of the Judicial Review Challenge 2 – 3
3. The Battle Lines Drawn 4 – 6
4. Statutory Framework in Outline 7 – 9
5. Key Documents and Events – Preface 10
6. 1992 – 1995 11 – 13
7. 1995 – 2001 14 – 15
8. November 2001 – December 2003 16 – 18
9. January to April 2004 19 -22
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10. The Ministerial Commitment of April 2004 23 – 25
11. Mid-2004 – end 2005 26 – 33
12. 2006 – 2007 34 – 47
13. 2008 - Enter the New Minister 48 – 54
14. 2009 – 2010 55 – 75
15. The “Sustainable Schools” Policy 76 – 78
16. The DFP Guidance 79 – 80
17. The “Lisanelly Option”: Current State of Play 81 – 84
18. The Parties’ Competing Arguments 85 – 91
19. Substantive Legitimate Expectations: Governing Principles 92 – 104
20. The Challenge to the First Impugned Decision:
Conclusions 105 - 118
21. The Challenge to the Second Impugned Decision:
Conclusions 119 – 121
22. Remedy 122
23. Costs 123
24. Postscript 124
McCLOSKEY J
I INTRODUCTION
The Loreto Order of Nuns
[1] The Loreto Sisters, an Order of Nuns, enjoys a richly deserved reputation, of
longstanding, for the provision of highly skilled and dedicated teaching to younger
members of society, mainly in the post-primary sector, in both parts of Ireland and
beyond. Countless generations of pupils have been the beneficiaries of this
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invaluable service to the community. One of the schools founded by the Loreto
Order is the Loreto Grammar School in Omagh (hereinafter described as “the Loreto
School”), which dates from 1858 (a year of great significance for those who profess
the Roman Catholic faith). The Loreto School continues to occupy its original site at
Brook Street, Omagh. This site also contains a now disused Loreto Primary School
and a listed Convent building of renowned architectural merit. The future of the
Loreto Grammar School on its present site in Omagh is the subject matter of this
application for judicial review.
The Contours of the Judicial Review Challenge
[2] The Applicant in these proceedings is the Board of Governors of the Loreto
School, Omagh (whom I shall hereinafter describe as “the Governors”). The
Respondent is the Department of Education (“the Department”). The first decision
which the Governors impugn by this challenge is described in the following terms:
“A decision by the Minister for Education, Catriona Ruane,
MLA, and her Departmental officials, whereby she has
refused to honour a pledge made by Minister Barry Gardiner
on 27th April 2004 committing the Department to provide
£14.6 million to fund the construction of a new school
building on the existing site of Loreto Grammar School”.
The court permitted an amendment of the Order 53 Statement to permit the
Governors to challenge a second Departmental decision, formulated in these terms:
“A decision by the Minister for Education and her
Departmental Officials communicated on 29th June 2010
that the Applicant’s school and proposed building project
was ‘non compliant’ with the Sustainable Schools Policy
criteria”.
Whether these truly represent two freestanding decisions or form two parts of a
greater whole is a question which I shall have to consider at a later stage of this
judgment. As appears from the first of the Orders of Certiorari sought by the
Governors, their primary contention is that the Minister has refused to honour her
predecessor’s commitment of April 2004. The second form of relief sought is
couched in somewhat different terms:
“An Order of Certiorari quashing the Minister’s decision to
make any provision of funding for the construction of a new
school building conditional upon an agreement to the
transfer of the premises to the proposed multi-campus
on the Lisanelly site”.
[My emphasis].
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3 cases
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JR 47’s Application
...of the others. I recently considered the governing principles in this sphere in extenso in In Re Loreto Grammar School’s Application [2011] NIQB 30: see paragraphs [92] – [104]. I consider that, doctrinally, the cornerstone of any legitimate expectation is a clear and unambiguous representa......
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JR 47’s Application
...of the others. I recently considered the governing principles in this sphere in extenso in In Re Loreto Grammar School’s Application [2011] NIQB 30: see paragraphs [92] – [104]. I consider that, doctrinally, the cornerstone of any legitimate expectation is a clear and unambiguous representa......
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Badger vs Southern Regional College,Governing Body Southern,Angela Coffey
...EWCA Civ 66, referred to with approval by McCloskey J in the judicial review in the case of In Re: Loreto Grammar Schools Application [2011] NIQB 30, where Lord Justice Toulson stated:- “ … The case was a grotesque example of a tendency to burden the court with documents of grossly proporti......