News

The positive changes rapidly made in Ireland's prison service during the Covid-19 pandemic are at risk of being reversed, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has warned. The penal reform body today published its fourth annual review of standards in Irish prisons, which welcomes the reduction of pris

A man who held up a judge, a barrister and his estranged wife with a fake pistol and a hoax pipe bomb in a Dublin court siege has been jailed for six years. Sentencing Edmund Dunican this morning, Judge Patricia Ryan said this was a planned and premeditated offence which has ongoing adverse effects

Seán O'Donnell, partner at ByrneWallace, examines the 14 principles underpinning Ireland's regulator's approach to data processing. On 18 December 2020 the Data Protection Commission published its draft Fundamentals for a Child-Oriented Approach to Data Processing. Building on existing guidan

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) has settled a case against the Northern Ireland Office over the requirement for local election candidates to disclose their home address. The human rights watchdog launched proceedings in February 2020 on behalf of Máiría Cahill, who

Magistrates will be allowed to work until they are 75 under new UK government plans. The mandatory retirement age for magistrates will be increased from 70 to 75 out of fears that a large number of retirements will compound the problems created by Covid-19 backlogs in the magistrates' courts, The Te

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is facing a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from a company he allegedly accused of playing a role in rigging the US presidential election against Donald Trump. Dominion Voting Systems, which supplies voting machines and software for dozens of US states and municipalities,

A woman has brought a landmark court case in France against 14 multinationals who manufactured and sold "Agent Orange" for use in the Vietnam War. The case is notable because it has been brought by French-Vietnamese woman Tran To Nga, a civilian who allegedly suffered injuries from the defoliant whi

A couple who famously pretended that their six-year-old son was trapped in a runaway weather balloon have been pardoned. Richard and Mayumi Heene were convicted in 2009 for orchestrating the "Balloon Boy" hoax in Colorado, USA, which captivated TV audiences earlier in the year.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a Circuit Court decision to withdraw a case from a jury because the defendant was not questioned by gardaí about the alleged offences. The court said that the defendant had “no entitlement to be detained and questioned” by gardaí in order

Waterford firm Nolan Farrell & Goff Solicitors LLP has announced the promotion of David O’Connor, Daniel O’Connell and Eoin O’Herlihy to associate solicitor.

The Supreme Court has issued a "very significant" ruling in a case focusing on the medical treatment of an 11-year-old boy who suffered life-changing neurological injuries, Ireland's human rights watchdog has said. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission exercised its amicus curiae function i

The new FLAC Traveller Legal Service has won the maximum possible payout for a woman who was discriminated against by a hotel wedding venue. The case was adjudicated by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Equal Status Acts 2000-2018 and led to a "very significant outcome", according to FLAC

Eamon Harrington, dispute resolution partner at Comyn Kelleher Tobin, looks at how Covid-19 and Lockdown 3.0 is having an impact on the court system and on mediations to resolve disputes. The President of the High Court earlier highlighted the obligation of all stakeholders to ensure that the admini

A man held up a judge, a barrister and his estranged wife with a fake pistol and a hoax pipe bomb during a “terrifying” siege in a Dublin court, his sentence hearing has been told. During a hearing in December 2018, Edmund Dunican, 47, told the court he had a “problem” with a

Four in ten Irish businesses made no changes to their cookie policies last year following new guidance from the Data Protection Commission, according to a new survey by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP. The law firm has published the results of its Data Privacy in 2021 survey, which was carried out at a