What is a Notary Public in Cork?

Further reading from this practice: Blockchain and Irish Law. For Hugh's background and qualifications, see Hugh Phelan.

The question I am most often asked at first contact is what a Notary Public actually does. It is a fair question. The notarial profession is small in Ireland — fewer than two hundred practising notaries cover the country — and the function is not well understood outside the legal sector.

A Notary Public is a public officer appointed by the Chief Justice of Ireland and the President of the Supreme Court. The appointment is for life, subject to retirement and disciplinary jurisdiction. The notary's authority is recognised internationally under the Hague Convention of 1961 and through diplomatic channels in countries that have not acceded to the Convention. That international recognition is the point of the office. An Irish notarial act is intended to be relied upon outside Ireland.

What the notary actually does

The notarial function attaches to instruments and to facts. The notary authenticates documents for use abroad, administers oaths and affirmations, draws and protests bills of exchange, prepares notarial certificates of various kinds, and certifies copies of original documents. The common thread is that the notary's signature and seal are a public attestation that the document or fact is what it purports to be.

In a typical week in this Cork practice, the work falls into a recognisable set of categories. Foreign nationals living in Ireland need Irish-issued documents authenticated for use in their home countries. Irish companies need corporate resolutions, powers of attorney and certified copies of constitutional documents notarised for use in foreign transactions. Individuals need to swear declarations and affidavits for use in foreign proceedings. Property buyers and sellers in cross-border transactions need notarised conveyancing documents. The variety is wide but the underlying act — authentication for foreign use — is consistent.

How an Irish notary is appointed

The appointment route in Ireland is structured and the bar is high. The candidate must be a practising solicitor of substantial standing, must complete the Diploma in Notarial Law and Practice with the Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland, must demonstrate need for a notary in the locality, and must petition the Chief Justice. The petition is supported by sponsoring notaries and by an affidavit setting out the candidate's qualifications and the proposed practice area. The Chief Justice may grant or refuse the petition.

I was appointed in this way, hold the Diploma in Notarial Law and Practice (Dip.Not.L.) from the Faculty, and am also qualified as a solicitor in the Law Society of Ireland and in the Law Society of England and Wales. The combination matters for cross-border work, where the receiving jurisdiction is more often England than not, and where dual qualification removes a layer of friction from the file.

What a Cork notarial appointment looks like in practice

A first appointment usually runs to thirty minutes. The notary needs to see original photographic identification — typically a passport, occasionally a national identity card — and original copies of the documents to be notarised. Where the document is a corporate instrument, the notary also needs evidence of the signatory's authority: a board resolution, an extract from the company register, a power of attorney, or equivalent. The Faculty's standards on identification and authority are tight and a notary who does not satisfy them is not protected by the office.

The notarial act itself is a short ceremony. The signatory signs in front of the notary, the notary signs and seals the document, and a certificate is attached or endorsed. The notary keeps a register of every act performed — date, parties, document, fee — and that register is the notary's contemporaneous record for the duration of practice.

Once the notarial act is complete, the document is ready for the next stage of authentication. For most foreign destinations, that next stage is the apostille from the Department of Foreign Affairs. The notary cannot apostille their own work; the Department's authentication is a separate step. I have written a longer working note on the apostille process for the receiving jurisdictions most often encountered in Cork practice.

What a notary cannot do

The boundaries of the office are as important as its content. A Notary Public cannot make a document legally enforceable that was not enforceable to begin with. A notarial certificate that a person signed a document is not a certificate that the document is valid, well-drafted or sound in law. The notarial act is an act of authentication, not of validation. A client who arrives with a document drafted by a foreign lawyer and asks the notary to confirm that it works is asking for legal advice on foreign law, which the notary cannot give in that capacity.

The notary is also bound by the Code of Conduct of the Faculty of Notaries Public Ireland, which requires independence, careful identification, accurate record-keeping, and refusal to act where there is reason to doubt the signatory's capacity or the document's lawful purpose. A notary who notarises a document that turns out to have been used in a fraud, where the notary ought to have detected the fraud, is exposed to disciplinary action and to a claim. The standard is high and the practice is appropriately cautious.

Where to find a notary in Cork

There is no national directory that lists every practising notary, but the Faculty of Notaries Public Ireland publishes a list of members. In Cork city the choice is small, which suits the work: most notarial matters are urgent, most involve original documents that cannot easily be sent by post, and most benefit from a notary who knows the apostille process and the receiving jurisdictions from working experience rather than from a textbook.

Phelan Solicitors operates from East Douglas Street and offers notarial appointments within the working week, with same-day appointments available where the diary allows. For a longer note on same-day notary appointments, the working pattern is set out separately.

When to call

The two best moments to engage a notary are when the foreign counterparty first asks for a notarised document, and when the document is in final draft form. The worst moment is when the document is on a deadline and the signatory is unavailable. Notarial work runs to its own timetable and the Department of Foreign Affairs runs to its own timetable on top of that. Building in two clear working days for the notarial step and three to five for the apostille is the working assumption I give clients, and it almost always proves sufficient.

For a related note on the difference between a Notary Public and a Commissioner for Oaths — a question that catches out a surprising number of clients — see notary versus commissioner for oaths. To book a notarial appointment with Hugh Phelan, call (021) 489-7134 or visit phelansolicitors.com.