Ireland Supreme Court reserves judgment in super junior ministers constitutional challenge
Two opposition TDs, Pa Daly of Sinn Féin and Paul Murphy of People Before Profit-Solidarity, challenged the attendance of super junior ministers at Cabinet meetings, arguing it breaches Article 28 of the Constitution which limits government members to 15. A three-judge High Court panel dismissed both challenges in December 2025, finding no constitutional provision restricts Cabinet attendance to the 15 appointed ministers. The TDs were awarded 50 per cent of their legal costs against the State and were given leave to appeal. The Supreme Court heard the appeal before a seven-judge panel from 21 to 23 October 2026 and has reserved its judgment.
- Reportednot reported
- Arrestednot reported
- Chargednot reported
- In court7 Jul
16 reports - Verdict
- Sentenced
Key facts
consolidated from all reports- What happened
- Two opposition TDs challenged the attendance of super junior ministers at Cabinet meetings, arguing it breaches Article 28 of the Constitution which limits government members to 15.
- Super junior ministers are appointed by the Government on the nomination of the Taoiseach, participate in Cabinet meetings, but do not vote.
- The practice of super junior ministers attending Cabinet began in 1994, and the number attending has grown from 16 to 19.
- Where
- The case was heard in the High Court and the Supreme Court in Dublin.
- When
- The High Court hearing took place in July 2025, judgment was delivered in December 2025, and the Supreme Court appeal was heard from 21 to 23 October 2026.
- Charges
- Pa Daly and Paul Murphy argued that only full Government ministers can attend Cabinet meetings and that the attendance of others breached Cabinet confidentiality.
- Pa Daly also challenged the legislation permitting an allowance to be paid to super junior ministers linked to Cabinet attendance.
- In court
- A three-judge High Court panel comprising Barniville, Phelan and Brady dismissed both challenges in December 2025, finding no constitutional provision restricts Cabinet attendance to the 15 appointed ministers.
- The TDs were awarded 50 per cent of their legal costs against the State due to the importance, novelty and complexity of the constitutional issues.
- The Supreme Court heard the appeal before a seven-judge panel from 21 to 23 October 2026, with the Attorney General defending the State.
- The Supreme Court reserved its judgment on 23 October 2026.
- Other details
- The Attorney General accepted that super junior ministers are involved in discussion and decision-making at Government meetings with no constitutional basis.
- The Attorney General argued the appeals are fundamentally flawed and conflate attendance at meetings with being a full government minister.
99 statements extracted from the articles
- whatThe Government accepts super-junior Ministers are involved in decision-making at Cabinet meetings with no constitutional basis (irishtimes.com)
- whatSuper-junior ministers are appointed by the government on the nomination of the taoiseach (irishtimes.com)
- whatSuper-junior ministers participate at government meetings but do not vote (irishtimes.com)
- whatArticle 28 limits the number of government members to 15, including the taoiseach (irishtimes.com)
- whatThe number of people attending cabinet has grown from 16 to 19 since 1994 (irishtimes.com)
- whatPaul Murphy argues that the attendance of super junior ministers at Cabinet meetings breaches the Constitution. (rte.ie)
- whatFinian McGrath served as minister of State for disability between 2016 and 2020 (irishtimes.com)
- whatMcGrath said he was encouraged by taoisigh Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar to participate in cabinet debates (irishtimes.com)
- whatSecretary General John Callinan said super junior ministers cannot submit or present memorandums to Cabinet (irishtimes.com)
- whatBoth TDs say attendance of super junior ministers at Cabinet is unconstitutional. (rte.ie)
- whatMurphy seeks injunctions to stop junior ministers attending Cabinet. (rte.ie)
- whatDaly is also challenging legislation permitting an allowance for junior ministers. (rte.ie)
- whatPa Daly and Paul Murphy argued that Cabinet meetings may only be attended by full Government ministers. (gript.ie)
- whatMurphy sought orders preventing junior ministers from attending Cabinet meetings, and Daly contested the statutory basis for paying junior ministers an allowance linked to Cabinet attendance. (gript.ie)
- whatTwo Opposition TDs are appealing rejected legal challenges over super junior ministers attending government meetings. (irishtimes.com)
- whatThe TDs argue that article 28 of the Constitution limits government members to 15 and that attendance of super junior ministers breaches this. (irishtimes.com)
- whereMurphy spoke outside the Four Courts after the judgment. (thejournal.ie)
- whenThe case is back before the courts on 15 January. (thejournal.ie)
- chargePa Daly and Paul Murphy claim only Government ministers can attend Cabinet meetings. (rte.ie)
- chargeThey claim the attendance of others breached Cabinet confidentiality. (rte.ie)
- courtThe case is expected to run until Wednesday at the latest. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe action is against the Taoiseach, the Government, Ireland and the Attorney General (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe Attorney General accepted super-junior Ministers are involved in discussion and decision-making at Government meetings (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe case is sitting before a three-judge divisional court and continues (irishtimes.com)
- courtPaul Murphy seeks an injunction restraining super-junior Ministers from attending Government meetings (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe case is sitting before three High Court judges and continues (irishtimes.com)
- courtA three-judge division of the High Court is hearing the case due to its constitutional importance. (rte.ie)
- courtThe High Court is presided over by High Court President David Barniville, who earlier heard a similar challenge by Pa Daly. (rte.ie)
- courtFinian McGrath told the High Court he was treated exactly the same as full senior ministers when he sat at Cabinet between 2016 and 2020. (rte.ie)
- courtMcGrath agreed there was no specific legal entitlement for him to attend Cabinet meetings. (rte.ie)
- courtThe Secretary General to the Government told the court that only the 15 ministers were members of the government. (rte.ie)
- courtClosing submissions from each side are expected before the court reserves its decision. (rte.ie)
- courtThe case is sitting before three judges with closing submissions expected the following day (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe High Court has reserved its decisions on the challenges by two TDs. (rte.ie)
- courtA three-judge division of the High Court heard the challenges over the week. (rte.ie)
- courtMr Justice David Barniville said the judgments would be worked on over the next number of weeks. (rte.ie)
- courtThe High Court reserved judgment in two similar cases brought by Opposition TDs. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe cases were brought by Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly and People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy. (irishtimes.com)
- courtHigh Court president Mr Justice David Barniville reserved judgment on behalf of the three-judge divisional court. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe High Court will give judgment later this month on the two actions. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe three-judge court's ruling is due on December 19th. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe Attorney General argued that who attends Cabinet is an issue exclusively for the Government. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe TDs' lawyers argued that article 28 of the Constitution limits the Government to 15 members, including the Taoiseach. (irishtimes.com)
- courtMr Murphy sought injunctions to stop the attendance of the superjunior minister at Cabinet. (irishtimes.com)
- courtMr Daly also challenged the legislation permitting an allowance to be paid to the superjuniors. (irishtimes.com)
- courtFormer superjunior minister Finian McGrath said he was treated as a full minister at government meetings. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe hearing of both cases concluded on July 11th and judgment was reserved. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe High Court dismissed cases brought by two opposition TDs seeking to quash the appointment of super junior ministers. (thejournal.ie)
- courtThe judges rejected the arguments made by Daly and Murphy in their entirety. (thejournal.ie)
- courtThe judges found no constitutional provision limits attendance at Government meetings to the 15 ministers appointed by the President. (thejournal.ie)
- courtThe judges found Daly's claim must fail and he is not entitled to the declaratory relief he sought. (thejournal.ie)
- courtThe High Court dismissed two separate legal challenges brought by opposition TDs on a Friday. (gript.ie)
- courtA three-judge High Court panel rejected both cases and found no constitutional breach. (gript.ie)
- courtThe cases were listed for a follow-up hearing in January 2026 to address consequential orders. (gript.ie)
- courtThe TDs argued Article 28 limits government members to 15. (irishtimes.com)
- courtA three-judge High Court delivered the judgment on Friday. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe court held the Constitution does not restrict Cabinet attendance to the 15 members of Government. (irishtimes.com)
- courtDecisions taken by Cabinet are ultimately controlled by the 15 members. (irishtimes.com)
- courtAn appeal directly to the Supreme Court is expected. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe obligation of Cabinet confidentiality applies to those attending meetings, not just the 15 members. (irishtimes.com)
- courtPreparation of Cabinet memos is controlled solely by the 15 members of Government. (irishtimes.com)
- courtTwo TDs applied to the Supreme Court to hear appeals over the rejection of their legal challenges to the attendance of super junior ministers at Government meetings. (irishtimes.com)
- courtA three-judge High Court dismissed the challenges in December 2025. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe TDs were awarded 50 per cent of their legal costs against the State due to the importance, novelty and complexity of the constitutional issues. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe High Court, comprising court president David Barniville and Judges Siobhán Phelan and Conleth Brady, held no provision of the Constitution is breached by the attendance and participation of junior ministers at Cabinet meetings. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe State has six weeks to give its response to the applications. (irishtimes.com)
- courtBoth appellants have also filed appeals with the Court of Appeal, which will only proceed if the Supreme Court refuses the leapfrog appeal. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe Supreme Court has begun hearing an appeal over super junior ministers attending Cabinet meetings. (rte.ie)
- courtThe High Court dismissed their challenges in December, ruling there was no breach of the Constitution. (rte.ie)
- courtThe appellants were given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. (rte.ie)
- courtArguments were made on Wednesday at the Supreme Court hearing of an appeal by two Opposition TDs. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe appeal before the Supreme Court continues on Thursday. (irishtimes.com)
- courtA three-judge High Court dismissed the TDs' challenges last December. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe TDs were awarded 50 per cent of their legal costs against the State. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe Attorney General is defending the State before a seven-judge Supreme Court. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe appeals continue on Friday. (irishtimes.com)
- courtThe Supreme Court reserved its judgment in the super junior ministers appeal. (rte.ie)
- courtThe appellants were unsuccessful in lower courts before bringing the appeal to the Supreme Court. (rte.ie)
- courtThe appeal was heard before a seven-judge court. (rte.ie)
- otherArticle 28 of the Constitution limits the number of government members to 15, including the Taoiseach. (irishtimes.com)
- otherShane Ross served as minister for transport, tourism and sport from 2016 to 2020 (irishtimes.com)
- otherGovernment counsel said Murphy's distinctions were unstable and unworkable. (rte.ie)
- otherThe court may give its decision in the autumn. (rte.ie)
- otherLegal sources expect the Supreme Court to decide the issue definitively. (rte.ie)
- otherThe government argued the cases lack coherence. (thejournal.ie)
- otherMurphy and Mary Lou McDonald said they would consider appealing the case to the Supreme Court over the Christmas break. (thejournal.ie)
- otherThe court found that super junior ministers hold no formal decision-making power. (gript.ie)
- otherThe court said the decision to have Ministers of State attend Cabinet meetings is a political decision resting with the Taoiseach. (gript.ie)
- otherMurphy said the decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court. (gript.ie)
- otherSuper junior ministers participate in Government meetings but do not vote. (irishtimes.com)
- otherThe TDs argued that article 28 of Bunreacht na hÉireann limits the number of government members to 15 and that super junior ministers' attendance at Cabinet goes against this. (irishtimes.com)
- otherPaul Murphy said the current practice by the Government breaches the Constitution. (rte.ie)
- otherThe High Court dismissed challenges by Pa Daly and Paul Murphy last December. (irishtimes.com)
- otherPaul Murphy argued the practice was inconsistent with Article 28 of the Constitution of Ireland. (rte.ie)
- otherThe practice of super junior ministers attending Cabinet began in 1994. (rte.ie)
- otherThe appellants argued that government decisions taken with super juniors at Cabinet since 1994 were unlawful but were not challenging any specific decision. (rte.ie)
- otherThe Attorney General argued the line at which additional attendees cause Cabinet to lose its essential characteristics had not been crossed. (rte.ie)
- otherThe Attorney General said the Constitution does not state in terms that the Taoiseach must chair Cabinet meetings. (rte.ie)
- otherPa Daly and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the appeal was about accountability. (rte.ie)
The reporting
newest first- 23 Oct2026Supreme Court reserves judgment in 'super junior' appeal
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment after the third day of the appeal hearing, with the Attorney General and appellants' counsel having completed their submissions.
accused, Pa Daly, male, named, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyaccused, Paul Murphy, male, named, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 22 Oct2026Appeals over super junior ministers at Cabinet ‘fundamentally flawed’, Supreme Court hears
Details of AG Rossa Fanning's submissions at the Supreme Court, including his argument that the appeals conflate attending Cabinet with being a government minister and that ministers of state are 'not decision makers', plus the composition of the seven-judge panel and the fact the hearing continues on Friday.
- 21 Oct2026Supreme Court appeal opens in row over super junior ministers attending at cabinet
Reports the opening of the Supreme Court hearing with detailed arguments from both sides, identifies the seven-judge panel, and notes the TDs were awarded 50 per cent of their legal costs by the High Court.
- 21 Oct2026Court hears appeal over super junior ministers at Cabinet
Supreme Court begins hearing the appeal; High Court had previously dismissed the challenge in December ruling no breach of the Constitution, and the appellants were given leave to appeal.
accused, Pa Daly, male, named, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyaccused, Paul Murphy, male, named, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 27 Mar2026Application by two TDs to Supreme Court over super junior ministers at Cabinet
Reports the TDs' application to the Supreme Court for a leapfrog appeal, the grounds for the appeal, and the procedural steps ahead including the State's six-week response period.
victim, Pa Daly, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 19 Dec2025Opposition TDs lose legal challenge over ‘super junior’ ministers sitting at Cabinet
Three-judge High Court ruled that super junior ministers' attendance at Cabinet does not breach the Constitution; the TDs are considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.
victim, Pa Daly, male, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, male, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 19 Dec2025High Court rejects challenges to Super Junior ministers - Gript
Reports the High Court's judgment dismissing both challenges, the judges' reasoning, that an appeal to the Supreme Court is possible, and that a follow-up hearing on consequential orders is listed for January 2026.
victim, Pa Daly, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 19 Dec2025Opposition TDs lose High Court challenge over super junior ministers attending Cabinet
Reports the High Court judgment dismissing both TDs' challenges, the judges' reasoning, and that Daly and Murphy would consider an appeal to the Supreme Court.
victim, Pa Daly, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 2 Dec2025Court to rule this month on challenges over superjunior ministers’ Cabinet attendance
Preview of the High Court judgment due on 19 December, setting out the arguments made at the hearing and the pending ruling.
- 11 Jul2025High Court reserves judgment in TDs’ cases taken over super-junior ministers
First report of the High Court reserving judgment after hearing full submissions in both cases. The State's defence argued the cases rested on 'obscure distinctions' while the applicants' counsel cited evidence of active participation by super-junior ministers in Government deliberations.
victim, Pa Daly, male, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, male, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 11 Jul2025Court to rule later on junior ministers at Cabinet
Reports that the three-judge High Court has reserved its decisions after hearing the week's submissions. Judge Barniville said judgment was unlikely before the end of the legal term, and the court may rule in the autumn. Government counsel argued the distinctions Murphy relied on were unworkable, and Murphy's counsel said junior ministers were treated as full members.
victim, Pa Daly, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 11 Jul2025Ex-super junior treated as a ‘full minister’ despite status, High Court hears
Reports on Finian McGrath's evidence and cross-examination, Secretary General John Callinan's testimony, and expert witness evidence at the High Court hearing of Paul Murphy's action.
victim, Paul Murphy, male, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphyvictim, Pa Daly, male, irish (judged from name)Pa Daly - 10 Jul2025McGrath says he was treated same as senior ministers
Reports the July 2025 hearing of Paul Murphy's High Court challenge, including evidence from Finian McGrath, the Secretary General to the Government and academic witnesses. It states that a three-judge division is hearing the case and that closing submissions are expected before judgment is reserved.
victim, Paul Murphy, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 9 Jul2025Super-juniors treated ‘identically’ to senior Ministers, ex-cabinet member Shane Ross tells High Court
Reports on Shane Ross's witness evidence at the High Court hearing, where he confirmed super-juniors were treated identically to senior ministers and could influence cabinet decisions, including one instance where a super-junior changed the government's mind by threatening to resign.
victim, Paul Murphy, male, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 8 Jul2025Government accepts ‘super junior’ Ministers are involved in decision-making at Cabinet with no constitutional basis, court hears
Reports the arguments made at the hearing: the Attorney General accepted super-junior Ministers are involved in discussion and decision-making at Government meetings, while contending the case is a political challenge. The case continues before a three-judge divisional court.
victim, Pa Daly, male, irish (judged from name)Pa Dalyvictim, Paul Murphy, male, irish (judged from name)Paul Murphy - 7 Jul2025Sinn Féin TD’s legal challenge to ‘super junior’ ministers seeks ‘unprecedented’ intervention by judiciary, AG tells court
Covers the opening of Pa Daly's case on Monday 7 July 2025, with arguments from Feichín McDonagh SC for the applicant and Rossa Fanning for the State, and notes the case is expected to run until Wednesday at the latest.
victim, Pa Daly, male, irish (judged from name)Pa Daly