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The long-awaited review of protections for vulnerable witnesses in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences has backed proposals for anonymity to be extended to defendants in all sexual assault trials, as well as greater supports for complainants. The review, chaired by Tom O’Malle

The Bar Council of Ireland's response to the long-awaited review of protections for vulnerable witnesses in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences is reproduced in full below. We welcome the publication this morning of the Report on the Review of Protections for Vulnerable Witness

Insurance companies should pay plaintiffs' legal costs in test cases concerning COVID-19 claims on business interruption insurance policies, the Central Bank of Ireland has said. The Central Bank has published its COVID-19 and business interruption insurance supervisory framework, which aims to seek

International law firm DAC Beachcroft, which recently celebrated 10 years in Dublin, saw its pre-tax profits grow by seven per cent to £56 million in the 2019/20 financial year. Profit per member grew three per cent to around £590,000, maintaining the "above £500k" benchmark for th

Irish tech expert Dr Johnny Ryan FRHistS has joined the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) as a senior fellow in its information rights programme. Dr Ryan joins ICCL from Brave, where he was chief policy and industry relations officer reporting to CEO Brendan Eich, the inventor of JavaScript.

More than 16,500 offenders were referred to the Probation Service from courts across the State last year. The latest annual report, published yesterday, details "another busy year" for the service and measures its performance against its strategic plan for 2018 to 2020.

At least £150 million has been wasted on unusable PPE procured from a company linked to government ministers, according to papers released through judicial review proceedings. The Good Law Project, led by founder Jo Maugham QC, is pursuing litigation over the UK government's "PPE fiasco" at th

The Electoral Reform Society has described the latest House of Lords appointments as "startlingly warped". In a briefing, it found that a majority of peers (58 per cent) were primarily elected politicians prior to entering the Lords – more than double the proportion of current peers in the Lor

An arbitrary and long-standing ban on aspiring lawyers in Texas bringing their own menstrual products to the bar exam has been lifted following renewed criticism. Law professors in the state wrote to the Texas Board of Law Examiners last month, highlighting a national plea from nearly 3,000 law prof

The Court of Appeal has set aside the order of Mr Justice Max Barrett striking out personal injuries proceedings on the grounds of inordinate and inexcusable delay. Background

Controversial legislation which would have sealed abuse records for at least 75 years has been postponed pending a re-examination, according to reports. The Retention of Records Bill 2019 would seal all records currently contained in the archives of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (C

The latest volume of the Hibernian Law Journal has been launched "virtually" and is now available online via HeinOnline and Westlaw. Volume 19 explores the past, present and future of law, covering a range of topics including the potential impact of big data analytics on the delivery of legal servic

Even by the standards of today’s enfeebled and anaemic media, the lack of coverage of the death of Clive Ponting who passed away last week at his home in Scotland is remarkable. It is also lamentable. Ponting was a young, high-flying civil servant who could not live with the lie Margaret Thatc

Flor McCarthy, managing partner at McCarthy + Co Solicitors, explains that statements of truth have been introduced but will not yet be immediately available for use in personal injury and medical negligence claims. Back in May we started a campaign to replace affidavits sworn on oath with a more mo

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates considers redundancy law where an employee moves from one part of a group of companies to another. In case RPD197, being a case of Anita Olejniczak and Glenbeigh Fire & Flood Limited, the issue arose as to whether or not