Case Reports

The Supreme Court is to refer questions to the European Court of Justice as to the status of examinations scripts as personal data, following a case in which a man sought an appeal of a decision by the Data Protection Commissioner, in which it determined that such scripts did not constitute personal

The High Court has found that an applicant’s challenge of a decision by the Minister for Justice and Equality, in which she refused to allow him to transfer his sentence from the UK to Ireland, was unarguable, as the Minister was not obliged to accept such transfers, and had not acted unreasonably

The Law Society of Ireland sought and obtained an order for various sanctions following an incident in which a solicitor, Michael O’Sullivan, withheld money from a client, Mr James Nolan, and failed to furnish a Bill of Costs explaining his fee, a breakdown of money to be returned to Mr Nolan, and

The Supreme Court has remitted the balance of a case concerning the termination of a contract to the High Court, following a finding that the Court had correctly determined that the case was not one related to defamation, and therefore did not require a jury trial. However, in a display of latitude

A mentally ill Nigerian asylum seeker who was detained pending deportation and who sought a declaration that a period of her detention was unlawful, in addition to damages, has had her appeal to the UK Supreme Court unanimously dismissed – as the court also declared R (Francis) was wrongly decided

The European Court of Human Rights has held, unanimously, that there was a violation of article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of convicted murderer, James Clifton Murray who complained he was serving a life sentence without a

Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal has upheld a sentence given by the Crown Court in respect of a man who had been found in possession of components of a pipe bomb in January 2014. Although the appellant, Sean Ruddy, had initially denied the offence, eight months prior to his trial on 26 August 2015

The European Court of Human Rights has unanimously held that there was a violation of article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of five applicants who lodged separate complaints about the Russian authorities’ response to demonstrations held by each of

The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the High Court to restrain the Director of Public Prosecutions from holding a re-trial of Michael Furlong for the murder of Patrick Connors in April 2011. The trial had commenced on 14th November 2013, but had collapsed dramatically on 18th November, when

The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision in which it was found that the decision of the Minister for Health not to alter the lifetime ban on males who have sex with other males (“MSM”) was irrational and infected with apparent bias. The High Court had also found that the Minister

of the formal investigation procedure and, on the other, the aid schemes had not been notified to the Commission in any way. The undertakings in question therefore could not reasonably believe, despite the delay in the investigation procedure, that the Commission’s doubts no longer existed and th

and/or progression of the disciplinary proceedings. The applicant was accused of a breach of discipline under Regulation 5 of the An Garda Síochána (Discipline) Regulations 2007 and under the Criminal Justice (Treatment of Persons in Custody) Regulations, 1987.

The Court of Appeal has set aside an order of the High Court in relation to an accident which left a man requiring to have his leg amputated, finding that the trial judge’s assessment of the damages was “perverse”. The plaintiff, Blaine Murphy, was struck by a car while attending the Galway In

The detention of an Algerian national who acquired permanent residence in 2003 and 28 criminal convictions by 2012, pending a decision to deport him, was not unlawful, the Supreme Court has ruled as it additionally declined to make a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Unio

The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s construction of a will, following a dispute between the will’s executor and his nephew over the use of land as a garden. The appellant, James Mullen, was the son and executor of the will of the late Elizabeth Mullen, while the respondent, James Mul