Indian human rights lawyer criticises Irish courts

A leading Indian human rights lawyer has slammed the Irish courts as “timid, pessimistic and slow” in upholding human rights, The Irish Times reports.

Colin Gonsalves, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India and founder of India’s Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), criticised Ireland’s legal system for refusing to accept proxy litigation which may impact on Government budgets.

He said that constitutional rights would be better protected if it was possible to raise proxy litigation on behalf of the poor.

At present, only individuals with an interest in the matter can bring a case to court. This is common across most European legal systems, but not in India.

Dr Gonsalves said: “Ireland still has a very traditional way of using the law. India broke away from that years ago.”

He added that he tries to encourage Irish law students “to think in a more international, less European way”.

Dr Gonsalves will deliver a public lecture in the Graduates Memorial Building (GMB) at Trinity College Dublin at 5pm on Monday.