Minister entitled to change rules of entry for Army Cadet School, court told
The Minister for Defence is entitled to change the rules for admission to the Army Cadet School and a disappointed student cannot seek to bind him to any particular set of rules, the High Court has been told.
Gavin Morrissey had no legitimate expectation in law that rules applying to admissions in 2016 and 2017 would also apply in 2018, Patrick Leonard SC, for the Minister and State, said.
A student beginning their final year in secondary school who wants to apply for a cadetship has to be aware the rules are set out in March or April each year and that existing rules may be changed, he said.
There is a warning to that effect in the rules themselves and Mr Morrissey would have seen that had he read the 2016 and 2017 rules, he said.
While the court or others may have a view about that approach, there is “nothing unlawful” about it.
Counsel was opposing Mr Morrissey’s case aimed at securing orders quashing the refusal of a place in the Army Cadet School.
From Airmount Road, Slieve Rua, Co Kilkenny, Mr Morrissey wants to pursue his dream career of an army officer but claims a “material” change this year in entry requirements prevents him doing so unless he sits the Leaving Certificate a third time.
Because the 2018/19 cadet course started late last month, his case has been fast-tracked.
It opened on Tuesday before Mr Justice Michael McGrath and continues on Wednesday.
The dispute concerns whether Mr Morrissey, who sat and passed the Leaving Cert in 2017, and again in 2018, was entitled to 'carry forward' a pass in Maths achieved by him in the 2017 exam to meet the requirement of achieving passing grades in six higher or ordinary level subjects.
Mr Morrissey says he only learned, as a result of a Defence Forces email of June 2018, of the Minister’s decision of March 29, 2018 to prevent results being carried forward from one Leaving Cert to another.
The email set out terms and conditions for cadet school admissions and noted all the minimum educational requirements must be met in a single sitting of the Leaving Cert.
Mr Morrissey said the first maths paper of the Leaving Cert was over when he got the email.
In submissions on Tuesday, his counsel Oisin Quinn said the Minister was not entitled to operate a cadet admissions procedure in breach of his client’s fundamental rights, including to earn a livelihood.
He relied on various legal authorities including the recent High Court judgment in the successful case by Rebecca Carter arising from an error in totting her Leaving Cert marks.
While Mr Morrissey is not saying the rules cannot be changed, Mr Quinn said he had a legitimate expectation they would not have been changed without his getting “clear warning” of that.
In sworn statements, Mr Morrissey had said, while he has secured a place in NUI Maynooth, his father is a retired non-commissioned officer in the Defence Forces and his "long-held ambition" is to become an officer.
He first sat his Leaving Cert in 2017 and sat it again in 2018 because he needed an additional language to meet the three language requirement for entry to the cadet school.
Because he passed maths in the 2017 exam, he decided in January 2018 not to sit that exam again as he understood he could carry forward his maths result, a pass in maths being an entry requirement.
Resitting the exam cost his parents about €6,000, the court was told.
He says he was also told at a Defence Forces open day in April 2017 that successful candidates for cadet school did not have to pass the required subjects in a single Leaving Cert and could count subjects passed in a previous Leaving Cert.
A 2018 entry on the Defence Forces website also stated, in a section entitled Naval Service Frequently Asked Questions, the specific subjects listed "need not be in a single sitting".
