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The government has confirmed it has received the 700-page report of the scoping inquiry into historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders and is now preparing for its publication. Mary O'Toole SC was appointed in March 2023 to lead the scoping inquiry, which was origin

Motorists can take to the Autobahn just a few hours after lighting up a cannabis joint under new rules. German MPs have voted to back a new legal driving limit of 3.5 nanograms of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main psychoactive component of cannabis — per millilitre of blood.

A fresh proposal to increase Northern Ireland's minimum age of criminal responsibility, currently the lowest in Europe at just 10 years old, is to come before the Executive. Justice minister Naomi Long has previously spoken of her frustration at the lack of political consensus on raising the age (MA

Ryanair has lost an EU court challenge against the European Commission's approval of a €10 billion solvency support fund launched by the Spanish government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Spain notified the Commission in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic, of the aid scheme to set u

Dozens of lawyers have signed an open letter urging an end to the "crisis in the creation of enduring powers of attorney". Since April 2023, enduring powers of attorney must be created through an online portal managed by the Decision Support Service (DSS).

RDJ LLP has become the first law firm to engage in a pilot programme with the Law Society of Ireland designed to promote mental health and wellbeing within law firms. The pilot programme, titled Culture First | Well within the Law, is aimed at developing a long-term strategy around psychological wel

A PSNI report on the use of covert surveillance against journalists and lawyers has not provided adequate reassurances, the Northern Ireland Policing Board has said. The 60-page report, published yesterday, states firmly: "The central public concern has been that there was widespread, and unjustifie

Two British judges have resigned from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. Lords Collins and Sumption, former justices of the UK Supreme Court, announced their resignations yesterday.

Nearly a third of organisations have not yet implemented green procurement practices and a fifth do not feel prepared to do so, a new survey by Mason Hayes & Curran suggests. The business law firm's survey sheds light on the barriers organisations face in embracing the green transition as Irelan

A septuagenarian has been caught with nearly 3,000 boxes of allegedly stolen LEGO sets. Richard Siegel, 71, is accused of masterminding an organised retail theft scheme, with the allegedly stolen boxes ranging in price from $20 to $1,000 each.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Tiananmen Square anniversary: Hong Kong police detain artist who made sign in the air | The Guardian

More than 27,000 unitary patents have been successfully registered by the European Patent Office (EPO) in the first year since the system was launched. Around 350 cases have so far been initiated before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), which enables centralised litigation not only for unitary patents

The European Greens have urged EU governments to approve the Nature Restoration Law which was backed by MEPs in February but has since stalled. Irish environment minister Eamon Ryan is spearheading a continent-wide effort to have the law approved at the Environmental Council meeting on 17 June, with

Ireland's prison population is growing faster than in any other country in western Europe, according to new Council of Europe figures. Irish prisons were virtually full as of 31 January 2023, with 99.4 prisoners for every 100 places available, according to the 2023 penal statistics published today.

A&L Goodbody has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 50 per cent by 2030. The firm's emissions reduction targets were submitted to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) earlier this year and have now been approved.