The delicious irony of it all !
Three cheers for Jolyon Maugham QC
More info about crowdfunding here
RTE reports…
A leading British lawyer has begun a fundraising campaign to bring the issue of Britain’s triggering of Article 50 to the Irish courts in the hope that it will be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Jolyon Maugham QC has launched the crowdfunding appeal in order to mount a challenge over the legal aspects of Brexit at the Irish High Court.
Mr Maugham, a leading campaigner for Britain to remain in the EU and who has raised tens of thousands of pounds to support the recent challenges over Brexit in both the British High Court and Supreme Court, has already retained the services of an Irish senior counsel, Joseph Dalby SC, and hopes to have two senior and one junior counsel in all to initiate proceedings.
He has instructed the Dublin law firm, McGarr Solicitors, which has already taken several cases to the ECJ in Luxembourg.
Mr Maugham, who says the legal challenge will cost around £70,000stg (€83,000), expects that the litigants in the case will include a number of British MEPs and possibly a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
He ultimately wants the issue of whether or not Article 50 can be reversed once it is triggered to be adjudicated upon by the European Court of Justice.
Mr Maugham believes that judges in the Irish High Court would find it necessary to refer the legal questions raised by the case to European judges in Luxembourg.
The move is likely to inflame an already intense legal and political debate in the UK over the nature of Article 50 and what impact its triggering will have on the fate of the UK and its future status regarding the European Union.
It could also be a significant embarrassment to the Government here which will already have to steer a delicate path through the UK-EU divorce negotiations.
The British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50, the formal mechanism for leaving the EU, before the end of March.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1209/837852-article-50-challenge/
