The judgment of the Irish Supreme Court in Náisiunta Leictreacht v. Labour Court [2021] IESC 36 (“NECI”) represents the most significant treatment of Article 15.2.1 in decades and offers a definitive recasting of the doctrinal test for assessing the constitutionality of delegated rulemaking authority. The previous test - the Cityview test - at least as formally articulated in judicial doctrine and understood by legal scholars, is definitively dead and buried. In this paper, I will give an account of what has replaced it and whether it is for better or worse.

Part I introduces NECI and gives an account of the Supreme Court judgments of MacMenamin and Charelton JJ. Part II outlines its doctrinal significance. Part III defends the judgment from two anticipated lines of critique. Namely, that the judgment is in tension with our scheme of separation of powers, or that it raises democratic concerns.