The report, published today by Brussels-based human rights watchdog Liberties and compiled by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), is one of 22 country reports forming part of an EU-wide analysis which has found an ongoing deterioration in the rule of law across Europe.

Five countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia – are found in the EU report to be consistently and internationally weakening rule of law, with Hungary aggressively pursuing ever more regressive laws and policies.

The report classifies countries as ‘dismantlers’ (consistently and intentionally weakening the rule of law), ‘sliders’ (democratic standards in decline without being part of a clear political strategy), ‘stagnators’ (rule-of-law conditions do not improve or worsen significantly) and ‘hard workers’ (countries where governments actively seek meaningful improvements in rule-of-law standards).

In this year’s report, just one country – Latvia – is considered a hard worker, while 10 countries are considered stagnators, six are sliders and five are dismantlers.

Ireland is identified as a ‘stagnator’ in the report – which also states that Ireland is at risk of having its performance downgraded in next year’s report.

Claire McEvoy, head of research and policy at ICCL, said: “For the second consecutive year, Ireland has been categorised in Liberties’ report as a rule of law ‘stagnator’, reflecting the absence of meaningful legislative or structural reform across core rule of law areas, including the justice system, anti-corruption, media freedom and institutional checks and balances.

“Despite repeated recommendations from the European Commission, government progress remains limited or entirely absent. Ireland’s continued failure to act risks entrenching systemic weaknesses and undermines the credibility of the rule of law monitoring process itself.

“ICCL and many in civil society are very concerned about a number of government legislative proposals.

“Plans to curtail access to judicial review, presented as a measure to accelerate housing and infrastructure delivery, risk fundamentally weakening access to justice and limiting the ability of individuals and communities to hold the State to account. These proposals, alongside measures that may erode journalistic protections, signal a troubling direction of travel.

“Taken together, the lack of progress and emerging problem areas sound an alarm bell for civil society. This isn’t a good look for a state taking over the presidency of the EU in July and campaigning for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council on a ‘rule of law and civic space’ platform.”