News

Sixty per cent of social welfare appeals are successful, suggesting major issues surrounding original decisions being made to refuse welfare payments. The figures were revealed in the Annual Report 2015 of the Social Welfare Appeals Office, the body responsible for handling social welfare appeals.

Over the past decade, the average sentence for the crime of rape has increased by almost a year to 10 years, The Irish Times reports. Analysis of sentencing data suggests that non-custodial rape sentences, such as that imposed upon Mangus Meyer Husveit, a man who regularly raped his girlfriend while

John Hussey John Hussey, a barrister and DUP councillor, has been tipped as the next Lord Mayor of Belfast, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Prisons Inspector Judge Michael Reilly There was a sharp rise in prison inmate deaths from 14 in 2014 and 2013 to 22 in 2015, The Irish Times reports.

The High Court has granted an employment injunction, finding that An Post had not sufficiently notified a man of the reasons for his dismissal. The plaintiff, Mr Finbarr O’Leary, sought to restrain An Post from dismissing him, and unusually, sought to restrain An Post from taking any further step

Alliance leader David Ford The appointment of Northern Ireland's Justice Minister has developed into a major political issue after the Alliance Party indicated that it would not nominate someone for the position.

The Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) has called for organisations that do not comply with lobbying legislation to be “named and shamed”, The Irish Times reports. PRII chief executive John Carroll said: “The lobbying register should be given clear powers to name and shame organisati

TLT Solicitors, with offices in Belfast, has reported a 15 per cent increase in turnover to hit £71.6 million for the 2015/16 financial year. This year's result comes at the end of the firm's current ambitious three year strategy, during which time the firm's revenue increased by 45 per cent and it

A new report has found the number of properties repossessed by mortgage lenders in Ireland doubled between 2010 and 2013. A European research project headed up by Dr Pádraic Kenna of NUI Galway yesterday published its report, Promoting protection of the right to housing- Homelessness prevention in

More than 400 same-sex couples have been married in Ireland since the marriage referendum, which took place one year ago. Figures released by the Department of Social Protection show there have been 412 same-sex marriages since the Marriage Act 2015 was signed into law in November.

The article 5 right of an Iranian man held in immigration detention for a total of 55 months by the UK authorities was violated, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The applicant, J.N., is an Iranian national who was born in 1971 and lives in Barkin, England.

A choir of solicitors, barristers and judges has raised £10,000 for Northern Ireland Hospice through sales of its Christmas CD.

The High Court has dismissed Mr Charles Verschoyle-Greene’s appeal against a decision of the Financial Services Ombudsman, in which the FSO dismissed his complaint about the way the Bank of Ireland sold him a property investment. The appellant had been a client of the bank for a number of years, a

Dr Brian Tobin, lecturer at the School of Law in NUI Galway Women in a same-sex marriage with donor-conceived children have been "left in a legal quagmire" by the Government according to a legal academic, the Irish Examiner reports.

There was a 38 per cent increase in the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made last year in comparison with 2014, new figures show. The figures are included in the Office of the Information Commissioner's (OIC) annual report, which also shows a 20 per cent increase in the number of rev