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There is no clear legal basis for social welfare inspectors questioning passengers on certain flights out of Ireland as a blanket policy, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) has warned. The Department of Social Protection (DEASP) told the watchdog that customers boarding certain flights in recent m

Successful efforts to keep COVID-19 out of Irish prisons came at a "significant cost to the mental health and wellbeing of the people subject to special measures", a new report has found. The Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP), in conjunction with legal academics at Maynooth University, has pu

Asylum seekers' right to work is being undermined because they are denied access to driving licenses, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has said. The rights watchdog made the remarks following a Dublin Circuit Court ruling which confirmed that a single mother living in a rural D

A new online application process for grants of probate and letters of administration is set to be rolled out from September. The Courts Service of Ireland has said it will "modernise and transform the current process, making it easier and more efficient to complete".

A software engineer has been arrested after allegedly hacking into his former employer's database in an attempt to get his job back. Vikesh Sharma, 35, was sacked from his job as a senior software engineer at a Delhi-based company earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Supreme Court has held that a ministerial finding that a marriage amounted to a marriage of convenience does not make it a legal nullity. Background

Family law issues have remained the dominant theme of calls to the Children's Rights Alliance helpline in its second year, revealing a "serious gap" in the family law system. The organisation established the helpline and free legal advice clinics in 2018 to ensure that all children have access to fr

Solicitor Billie Sparks has been named the new general secretary of the Labour Party. Ms Sparks has worked for the party since 2013 in roles such as women and equality officer and deputy general secretary, latterly working as the party's national organiser since 2016.

A&L Goodbody has ranked as the top M&A firm in Ireland by deal count in the latest edition of Mergermarket's Global and Regional M&A Report. The firm advised on nine deals worth $568 million in the first half of 2020, closely followed by Matheson, which advised on nine deals worth $405 m

Irish art publisher Hanna Fine Art has announced the donation of €7,500 to a number of Irish charities from the sale of the fine art print of artist Stephen McClean’s original painting of the Round Hall in Dublin’s Four Courts. “The Round Hall” was published in a highly-

A focus on improving statistics and meeting targets is having a negative impact on victims' and witnesses' experience of the criminal justice system, a new report has found. Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) has warned that an insufficient emphasis on the personal experiences of t

The first issue of the Journal of Elder Law and Capacity for 2020 has been published online as an "e-issue". A hard copy of the journal, launched by the Law Society of Northern Ireland last May, will be sent to subscribers later in the year.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has deepened its connections to social movements and grassroots organisations, according to its latest annual report. Writing in the introduction to its 2019 annual report, executive director Liam Herrick said the organisation has shifted its identity awa

Legal rights organisation FLAC has challenged the legal basis for sanctioning Covid Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) claimants who travel abroad for holidays. Eilis Barry, CEO of FLAC, wrote to Social Protection Minister Heather Humphries after a number of individuals and NGOs contacted the organ

Manufacturing firms in Northern Ireland face "real challenges" and will need government support to survive COVID-19 and Brexit, Tughans has warned. The firm made the comments following the findings of a new survey of 130 businesses, carried out by Perceptive Insight on behalf of Tughans and Manufact