News

A High Court judge has addressed the need for an oath in court, saying it "still has a powerful role in bringing out the truth". In a judgment handed down yesterday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said that "scrapping the oath makes academic sense, but would materially increase the amount of fal

Ireland will start the process to ratify the Lanzarote Convention on child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, having previously been the only signatory which had not completed its ratification. Earlier this month, Ireland became the only Council of Europe member state that had not ratified the La

Dr Ronan Cormacain  of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law considers a lesser-discussed aspect of the controversial Internal Market Bill. Huge controversy has already been generated over provisions in the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill granting Ministers the power to disapply the Withdr

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has expressed serious concern at reports of garda using anti-spit guards on children and vulnerable people with mental health issues. The Commission has joined other human rights groups, such as the Children's Rights Alliance and the Irish Council for C

Benjamin Bestgen takes a further look at free speech this week, see last week's jurisprudential primer for part one. Open a newspaper or look through social media and you will find people expressing their upset about all kinds of real or perceived wrongs.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has apologised and ordered an independent investigation after an investigative journalism outlet reporting on the war in Yemen alleged that it had been "blacklisted". Declassified UK instructed law firm Leigh Day after the ministry's press office refused to provide a co

An immigration solicitor has been handed a £60,000 fine for bringing dozens of useless removal appeals, The Law Society Gazette reports. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal penalised Syed Wasif Ali and banned him indefinitely from making any further judicial review applications.

A drug trafficker has escaped a death sentence in a Shawshank Redemption-style escape through prison sewers. Chai Changpan, 53, has been on death row in Jakarta, Indonesia since being convicted in 2017 of smuggling 135kg of crystal meth.

A&L Goodbody has directly lobbied government ministers for the removal of juries from defamation cases, according to reports. The firm wrote to Justice Minister Helen McEntee following her appointment earlier this year to argue for urgent reform of the Defamation Act 2009, The Irish Times report

Strict architectural heritage protection laws could be reviewed in order to encourage renovation of derelict urban properties, according to reports. Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is considering a review of Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, according to The Irish Times.

Ministers have approved legislative plans aimed at enhancing Ireland's regulatory environment in international financial services. The Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 aims to promote investment and secure Ireland's competitiveness as a market for financial services.

Arthur Cox has become the first Irish law firm to join the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance (SRA), a group of companies committed to a more eco-friendly approach to talent recruitment. Members of the SRA, which was launched last month by international law firm Clifford Chance and UK communications a

Legislation banning the purchase of sex in Ireland could be putting sex workers at greater harm of human rights violations and abuses, Amnesty International has said. The human rights organisation has published its submission to the Department of Justice’s ongoing review of Part 4 of the Crimi

EU member states can regulate Airbnb-style short-term lets to combat long-term rental housing shortages, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled. In a judgment which has only been published in French, the court ruled that French laws requiring landlords to seek authorisation from

An upcoming webinar is set to provide practical insights from the perspective of practitioners and mediators in the new post-Covid litigation landscape. The lunchtime webinar on Friday 2 October has been organised by the Law Society of Ireland's ADR committee in conjunction with the Southern Law Ass