News

A fixed penalty of €2,000 can now be imposed on those who sell tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products at events aimed at children. The relevant sections of the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023 have been commenced with effect from today.

Northern Ireland's Department of Justice has issued letters to former sub-postmasters whose convictions have been quashed through legislation. Madden & Finucane Solicitors said four of its clients have now received letters confirming their convictions have been quashed under the Post Office (Hor

The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) is to receive major IT upgrades through a 20-year contract valued at £85 million. Independent IT and business consulting firm CGI will deliver the long-term support contract and a five-year programme of work to improve the experiences o

Dublin-based Crowley Millar Solicitors LLP has appointed Simon Deane-Johns as a senior consultant solicitor. Mr Deane-Johns specialises in online financial services, e-commerce, IT, SaaS, privacy, personal data, cryptoassets, smart contracts and AI.

The Bar of Ireland has urged the government to use Budget 2025 to restore the full range of FEMPI-era cuts to criminal barristers working for the State. In its pre-budget submission, published today, the representative body for over 2,000 practising barristers also calls for restoration of the pay l

Two bungling burglars with the exact same name have been jailed. The two Bernie McDonaghs — who lived 100 miles apart and are reported not to be related — were sentenced last week after carrying out a series of thefts in and around Coventry.

A minister in the Northern Ireland Executive has taken the remarkable step of writing to the Lady Chief Justice to challenge sentencing remarks made by a district court judge. The Department for Infrastructure yesterday announced that minister John O'Dowd had written to Dame Siobhan Keegan in relati

Thousands of errors have been made in the administration of Northern Ireland's criminal courts in the past few years, a report has found. Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland today published the findings of a new inspection of criminal court administration.

A&O Shearman's Belfast office has raised £45,800 for local charity Friends of the Cancer Centre through a two-year community fundraising and volunteering partnership. The charity, which is based at the heart of the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital, has been supportin

Restoring fees to pre-2008 levels would add less than €16 million to the yearly criminal legal aid bill, justice minister Helen McEntee has said. Both the Law Society and the Bar Council are calling on the government to restore criminal legal aid fees to their pre-FEMPI levels in Budget 2025, a

Belfast-based Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors has welcomed newly-qualified solicitors Hannah Newburn and Sophie Jones. Ms Newburn graduated from Queen's University Belfast School of Law in 2018 and has worked as a paralegal in the firm since February 2021, before securing a place at the Institute

The head of Human Rights in China (HRIC) has been awarded a medal by the College Historical Society of Trinity College Dublin, the world's oldest student society.

Major reforms to mental health legislation have cleared second stage in the Dáil. The 202-section Mental Health Bill 2024 will replace the existing Mental Health Act 2001.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Lebanon explosions ‘almost certainly criminal’, says human rights lawyer | Channel 4 News

A zoo in China has admitted painting dogs to look like pandas. The zoo in southern Guangdong province described the animals as "panda dogs" after a viral video showed the animals panting and barking in their enclosure.