News

Less than 15 per cent of people convicted in the District Court of possessing child pornography receive a prison sentence, according to figures released to and published by The Irish Times. Figures released under a Freedom of Information request show that just 26 of 174 cases (15 per cent) finalised

Mr Justice George Birmingham The Association of Judges of Ireland (AJI) called last year for the establishment of an independent body to govern judges' pay, terms and conditions, the Irish Independent reports.

Carole Howard An Alliance Party councillor has been appointed High Sheriff of Belfast for 2018, marking the first time the ceremonial post has been held by someone other than a unionist since 2000.

Drones have been flown into Scottish prisons 22 times in the past two years, figures obtained under a Freedom of Information request show. On five of those occasions, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were found to contain drugs and mobile phones upon interception, The Scotsman reports.

Tech giant Apple is facing criminal prosecution in France over allegations that its phones, by slowing down as they get older, fall foul of France's "planned obsolescence" laws. In 2015, France became the first country in the world to introduce legislation criminalising "planned obsolescence" - wher

Photo credit: By Tomisti - work by uploader, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Supreme Court of Finland has begun publishing part of its precedents as summaries in English.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has upheld a court ruling that a 96-year-old man is fit to serve a four-year jail sentence for his role in the murder of 300,000 people at Auschwitz. Oskar Gröning, known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz", was an accountant at the death camp, where he sorted an

An application challenging the legality of the Regulations made to change the way in which tariffs would be calculated under the RHI Scheme has been dismissed in the High Court. Justice Colton concluded that the balance which the Regulations strike between the public and private interests is a fair

Mr Justice Brian Cregan The judge leading the inquiry into the sale of Siteserv has called for lawyers' pay to be doubled to €1,500 per day, The Irish Times reports.

Paul McDermott SC The Central Bank of Ireland has enlisted Paul Anthony McDermott SC and a team of top banking lawyers to build criminal cases against senior bankers involved in the tracker mortgage scandal, the Irish Independent reports.

Irish-based airline Ryanair has lost its defamation action in the High Court against three pilots belonging to the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG). Evert Van Zwol, John Goss and Ted Murphy were sued over an email sent by the RPG on 12 September 2013, headlined "Pilot update, what the markets are saying ab

Ross Little The Dublin office of international legal business DWF has advised US digital media company Irish Studio on the acquisition of six consumer magazines from publishing house Harmonia.

A judge of the High Court has said he can do no more for a 17-year-old boy refusing treatment for advanced cancer, The Irish Times reports. Mr Justice Peter Kelly, president of the High Court, also refused a request from the boy's mother to force him to be treated for cancer, which the boy insists h

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has highlighted continuing improvements in the prison system at his last prison visit of the year.

Kumi Naidoo Kumi Naidoo has been named as the next secretary general of global human rights organisation Amnesty International.