It is said that an “expert” is someone whose qualifications s or expertise give added authority to their opinion. Therein lies the fault line for a lay litigant labouring under this handicap who has no such qualifications or expertise. Caroline Fanning Solicitors recognises the contribution of lay litigants to Irish jurisprudence and believes more needs to be done to put in place supports for people seeking remedies in the Irish Courts but may not have the same purchasing power as other litigants. The common good requires these supports are in place as it is accepted where a litigant perceives their treatment or outcome as “unfair” they find it harder to accept and as they say in Married at First Sight “hurt people hurt” and these aggrieved and disgruntled litigants can in a very determined fashion coerce their opponent into years of expensive litigation at times only ending in the award of an Isaac Wunder order.

In Leary v. National Union of Builders [1970] 2 ALL ER 713, Megarry J. considered the circumstances in which an appeal would not constitute an adequate remedy for a party to whom a decision is addressed. It was held that a failure to afford fair procedures at first instance cannot be cured by an appeal conducted in accordance with the principles of natural justice. “