News

British lawyers are among professionals who have functioned as "enablers" for the extension of Russian influence in the UK, according to a long-awaited report from the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC). The committee drew up the report on Russia last year under the chairmanship

Prison authorities have warned prisoners' families that their loved ones could overdose on drugs smuggled into prison after months of COVID-19 restrictions. In its new family information booklet, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) warns that drug overdose "is now the main threat facing your loved ones i

Uber drivers have launched a legal case in the Netherlands to force the release of the computer algorithms used to manage their work in a test case that could lead to greater transparency for millions of gig economy workers. The case has been brought by UK-based App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU)

A police force has been criticised for using drones to catch topless or nude bathers at a secluded beach. Officers deployed high-tech surveillance devices to a lakeside beach in the US state of Minnesota following reports of immodest visitors.

The law on examinership should be amended to introduce an "examinership-lite" option for small businesses struggling in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Oireachtas committee has said. The proposal is one of 19 recommendations made by the Oireachtas special committee on COVID-19 response in

Human rights expert Professor Siobhán Mullally has been appointed as the UN special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children. A leading academic on human rights law, Professor Mullally is currently the director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR) at NUI Galw

The backlog of criminal trials which has built up during the COVID-19 crisis totals roughly half of the number of cases typically heard in a year, according to reports. Chief Justice Frank Clarke announced last week that criminal jury trials are set to resume in the Central Criminal Court this month

Disabled people will continue to see their rights being undermined at times of crisis unless law, practice, and policy underpinning the rights of people with disabilities is made more resilient, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has said. Acting chief commissioner Dr Frank Conaty, accom

An obituary of Lord Hutton, the former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary who passed away last week, has been published by The Times. The senior judge was born in Belfast in 1931 and began his career at The Bar of Northern Ireland in 1954. He became a QC in 1970 an

A recently discovered handwritten copy of revolutionary and barrister Wolfe Tone's famous 1798 speech from the dock is set to be auctioned for up to €70,000 (around £63,400). The written copy of the speech, delivered by Tone before he was sentenced to death for his role in the Rebellion o

The UK government has named the 10 sites which will host so-called "Nightingale courts" to alleviate the pressure on courts and tribunals resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The sites including Middlesbrough Town Hall, the Knights’ Chamber within the grounds of Peterborough Cathedral, and th

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most senior liberal judge on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), has said she will not retire despite undergoing chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer. In a statement, the 87-year-old judge, who has previously been treated for cancer on a number of occasions,

A man sawed his neighbour's garage in half following a dispute over the boundary line between the two properties. Construction worker Gabriel Brawn used a reciprocating saw to destroy half of the structure after a land surveyor confirmed that the garage straddled the boundary line between the two ho

A full recording of yesterday afternoon's Irish Legal News webinar on access to justice under the new government is now available online.

The mooted introduction of a US-style system of salaried public defenders in Ireland would be a "complete disaster", lawyers have said. The new programme for government includes a commitment to "independently examine the option of a dedicated system of public defenders".