Analysis

Dear Editor, Senator Gerard Craughwell’s recently expressed regret that FEMPI-era cuts affecting certain incremental payments to TDs and Senators remain unwound, brought home to me the scandal of payrates not yet being fully restored for prosecution and defence barristers acting under State cr

"Take that, sir. By God, sir, you shall more of this yet!,” cried Scottish banker George Morgan as he struck a merchant on the head with his umbrella. The incensed victim, David Landale, replied through the crisp Kirkcaldy air in measured breaths: "You are a coward, sir, a poor, silly coward."

Kennedys lawyers Gearóid Corrigan and Sinead Reilly explore a recent decision of the Supreme Court in relation to a data breach claim for distress and anxiety. Do claims for distress and anxiety resulting from a data breach require authorisation from the Injuries Resolution Board? Ireland&rsq

Scottish lawyer Douglas Ross KC reviews the latest instalment in Philippe Sands KC's "loose trilogy". Philippe Sands KC is a leading public international lawyer who has moved beyond the realm of practitioner/academic by writing a series of books based on themes of international law and justice aimed

Dr Orla Kelleher of Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology calls on Ireland to show greater leadership and ambition on climate action. We now have daily reminders of devastating climate impacts at current levels of temperature increase, which is already approximately 1.2°C above pre-i

This substantial work is a study of the intellectuals who migrated to Britain during the 1930s from countries in Central and Eastern Europe that were overrun by fascism. It was thought that between 1933 and 1940 about 100,000 such refugees arrived in Britain, although many merely passed through

As a summer of horrors unfolds in Gaza, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (Mark Stephens CBE, IBAHRI co-chair, Hina Jilani, IBAHRI co-chair and Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, IBAHRI director) asks the international community: if not now, when will it be time to act? Death, s

William Fry partners Barry Scannell and Leo Moore welcome the publication of the European Commission's long-awaited mandatory AI training data template. From August 2025, the European Commission will require providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models to publish a summary of the content used to tr

Anthony Fay considers how Big Tech companies like Meta could collide with Irish and EU law as they try to tackle sector-wide challenges. The first half of 2025 has been turbulent for the tech sector — marked by fines from the Irish Data Protection Commission, staffing recalibrations after pand

From Dublin to Dundee and Belfast to Birmingham, the labouring poor of 19th century Britain and Ireland had to contend with the widespread scourge of child-stripping – the theft of their children’s clothing by heartless thieves who faced the full rigour of the law when apprehended. Local

Alastair Tibbs reviews Netflix's new documentary on the Grenfell Tower fire. In the early hours of 14 June 2017, the London sky was ignited. What started as a spark from a faulty fridge soon became the blaze that claimed the lives of 72 men, women and children. It was, however, a perfect storm of ne

Eoin Jackson analyses the ICJ's landmark climate change opinion. On Wednesday this week, the International court of Justice (ICJ) released its landmark Advisory Opinion on states' obligations in respect of climate change. An Advisory Opinion is a non-binding opinion provided by the ICJ which clarifi

Matheson partner Mark O'Sullivan and solicitor Cormac Phelan examine an important Irish court ruling on the tax residence of a US company. The Court of Appeal recently affirmed a previous decision of the High Court, ruling that a disregarded US LLC was not a resident of the US for the purposes of th

Dear Editor, The announcement by the UK government that it plans to lower the voting age to 16 as part of changes to their electoral system highlights the lack of progress on this matter in Ireland.

In October of 1739 an Irish merchant vessel, the William, slipped out of Donaghadee harbour near Belfast and sailed into infamy. Its stated goal of collecting Norwegian timber shrouded the dark mission of its master William Davidson — to kidnap Scottish crofters and sell them into slavery in t