Children's Rights

A child who commits murder but turns 18 years old before sentencing will no longer face a mandatory life sentence under proposed new legislation. The government is bringing forward the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024 in response to a High Court ruling which found that the current statutory se

The High Court has determined that the statutory sentencing regime which distinguishes between children who are sentenced for murder prior to turning 18 and those who are adults by the time of sentencing is unconstitutional. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice Garrett Simons stated th

Legislation requiring life sentences to be imposed on convicted murderers who are children at the time of the offence but turn 18 before their sentencing is unconstitutional, the High Court has ruled. In a judgment handed down yesterday, Mr Justice Garrett Simons said the "legitimate legislative pur

Children’s advocacy organisations across Ireland have joined together to mark the launch of a new report – a project funded by the EU commission and led by the Children’s Rights Alliance in partnership with others. Building Children’s Future’s: Using Children’s Ri

The Irish government has been urged to heed a new UN report identifying the climate crisis as "an urgent and systemic threat to children's rights globally". The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child yesterday launched its general comment on children's rights and the environment, which considers th

The Court of Appeal has determined that it has limited jurisdiction to review a sentence imposed on a child who attained maturity by the time of an appeal. It was held that the court’s powers to review the severity of sentence involving detention were limited by statute to either quashing a co

Ireland should raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old and ensure that the detention of children is used only as a "last resort", the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has said. The general age of criminal responsibility in Ireland is 12 years, but there is al

Children cannot be compelled to visit their grandparents if they do not want to following a ruling of Italy's Supreme Court. A lengthy legal battle has culminated in a judgment from the court stating that grandchildren were not obliged to have a relationship “they do not enjoy, and do not want

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC has been appointed as the Irish government's special rapporteur on child protection for a three-year term. Ms Gallagher is an accomplished international human rights lawyer and barrister, originally from Dublin and based in Doughty Street Chambers in London.

Irish law must be urgently changed to ensure that defendants who turn 18 while awaiting trial continue to be dealt with through the child justice system, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has been told. Molly Joyce, acting executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT),

The rights of children in Northern Ireland have regressed, according to three reports produced by the Children's Law Centre and submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The reports, produced in consultation with a wide range of NGOs and over 1,000 children, highlight significant gap

New reforms to the law on consent, knowledge and belief in rape trials will require that an accused's defence that he believed the complainant was consenting has to be objectively reasonable. The Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2022 will amend the fault or mental elemen

A law banning physical punishment of children comes into effect in Wales today, just over a year after a similar ban was introduced in Scotland. Parents, or those responsible for a child, may face criminal charges if they physically discipline a young person in any way. They could face a prison sent

New legislation is required to protect the rights of children in cases of donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR) and surrogacy, a new report has recommended. The government has published a review by Professor Conor O'Mahony, special rapporteur on child protection, of children's rights and best int

It should be mandatory for children detained by gardaí to receive legal advice from specialist solicitors, a landmark study commissioned by the Policing Authority has suggested. A first-of-its-kind study into children's experiences of their rights during police questioning in Ireland has been