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Ireland's courts and prisons services have signed up to a new initiative aimed at helping autistic people and people with learning difficulties to ask for "just a minute" of patience. The just-a-minute card – or JAM card – is available either as a physical item or as a smartphone app tha

The PSNI has launched a review of its procedures for recruiting disabled people after settling a disability discrimination case brought by a man with autism, ADHD and Tourette's syndrome. The man had unsuccessfully applied for an administrative post with the PSNI via a recruitment campaign conducted

Legislation requiring certain large systemic investment firms to re-authorise as credit institutions will be introduced "as soon as possible", the Department of Finance has said. Statutory instruments signed by finance minister Paschal Donohoe this week have partly transposed the Investment Firms Di

The High Court has rejected a constitutional challenge to the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) made between the EU and Canada. The action was brought by Mr Patrick Costello, a Green Party TD, who claimed that CETA would adversely affect the State’s ability to make environmental re

Tributes have been paid to the "pioneering" lawyer-turned-politician Mervyn Taylor, who passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Mr Taylor, a solicitor who went on to become a Labour TD, served as minister for equality and law reform under two coalition governments between 1993 to 1997.

Carles Puigdemont, the exiled politician who led Catalonia's failed independence bid in 2017, has been arrested in Italy on the foot of a European arrest warrant. Mr Puigdemont is wanted by Spanish prosecutors for sedition after organising an independence referendum in defiance of the Spanish courts

Judge Denis McLoughlin, a District Court judge assigned to Cavan and Monaghan, has passed away suddenly at the age of 62. The president of the District Court, Judge Paul Kelly, led tributes yesterday afternoon after the unexpected news of the judge's death earlier in the day.

Dr Sandra Duffy comments on last week’s English Court of Appeal ruling on transgender children’s access to puberty blockers. On Friday 17th September, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales handed down its decision in the appeal of Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. This judgment

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Hong Kong group supporting human rights lawyers in China is latest to disband amid police pressure | Hong Kong Free Press

Possession of class A drugs such as heroin, cocaine and MDMA may incur a police warning rather than prosecution under a new "diversion from prosecution" policy for drugs announced by Scotland's Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC. In a statement, Ms Bain said: "I have decided that an extension of the rec

European affairs minister Thomas Byrne has said the government is taking EU criticism of the low number of Irish judges "very, very seriously". Speaking at a virtual meeting hosted by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) yesterday morning, Mr Byrne said the judicial planning working group an

Lady Hale will deliver a speech on "Northern Ireland in the Supreme Court" at a virtual event hosted by the Belfast Solicitors Association (BSA) next week. Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, served as president of the UK Supreme Court from 2017 until her retirement in January 2020.

A three-person independent group has been established the report on the government's progress on scrapping direct provision. The government intends to phase out the direct provision system of accommodation for asylum seekers by 2024, following a white paper published earlier this year.

UK government plans to end all criminal prosecutions linked to the Troubles are "incompatible with the United Kingdom's international obligations", the European commissioner for human rights has said. In a letter to Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, the Council of Europe's commissioner for h

Government plans to bring down legal costs should be "accelerated" to make the Irish economy more competitive and productive, the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) has said. In its 2021 report, the NCPC – which reports to the government – said the cost of legal ser