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A county sheriff in Co Monaghan has brought a High Court challenge against legislation requiring him to retire when he turns 70 next May. Castleblayney-based sheriff Seamus Mallon, who is a qualified solicitor, was appointed as a sheriff under the Courts Officers Act 1945 in 1987.

Northern Ireland's Department of Health has been directed to commission and make abortion services available as soon as possible and no later than 31 March 2022. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis yesterday issued the direction using his powers under the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations

Court fees and excise duties for vintners will be waived for a second consecutive year, the government has announced. The waiver for 2021 will include court fees, excise and stamp duty relating to the renewal of specified pubs and other liquor licenses, estimated to be worth around €10 million.

A new UK government bill intended to give judges more power in judicial review cases has been introduced at Westminster. The legislation will allow judges to modify quashing orders by introducing two changes, to be used at the discretion of individual judges:

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has identified "significant investigative failures" and "collusive behaviours" by the police in relation to the murder of Damien Walsh. Mr Walsh was shot dead at the Dairy Farm complex in west Belfast on 25 March 1993 by members of the UDA/UFF but no one has

Two human rights groups will discuss Traveller-specific accommodation issues today at a meeting with the joint Oireachtas committee on key issues affecting the Traveller community. The committee will hear from representatives from the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) and the Irish Human Rights and E

Campaigners have called for a State-run independent complaints mechanism as social media companies fail to protect users from abuse. The joint Oireachtas committee on tourism, culture, arts, sport and media met this week to conduct pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Online Safety

UK government plans to address ‘legal but harmful’ online content threaten freedom of speech and would be ineffective, peers have warned. Instead, existing laws should be enforced properly and any serious harms not already illegal should be criminalised, according to a House of Lords Com

Over a thousand computers used to mine cryptocurrency have been crushed by police using a steamroller. The 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs were seized by police in Malaysia after miners allegedly stole electricity worth $2 million from the power grid.

The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal by a man who claimed that he had received unduly harsh conditions for a suspended sentence for harassment. The appellant had previously received a 30-month sentence with the last 12 months suspended on condition that he refrained from engaging in his job as a

Judicial conduct and ethics guidelines to be adopted shortly by the Judicial Council will close a "gap in judicial accountability and transparency", Chief Justice Frank Clarke has said. Writing in the foreword to its annual report for 2020, Mr Justice Clarke – who is due to retire in October &

Global legal business DWF, with offices in Belfast and Dublin, has reported a 21 per cent rise in gross profit to £171.8 million in its full-year results for 2020/21. The group reported net revenue growth of 14 per cent (eight per cent organic) to £338.1 million at a gross margin of 50.8

The Northern Ireland Assembly has unanimously rejected deeply controversial UK government proposals to end all criminal prosecutions linked to the Troubles. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis last week set out the government's proposal for a "statute of limitations" which would prevent the pro

Des O'Malley, one of Ireland's most influential lawyers-turned-politicians, has passed away at the age of 82. He held significant cabinet positions throughout the 1970s and 1980s, firstly as a member of Fianna Fáil and later as a member of the Progressive Democrats, which he founded and led.

Our regular round-up of deals involving Irish law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Arthur Cox has advised Highfield Solar Limited on all aspects of the project financings for two solar farm assets.