Coronavirus

Law reform can help Ireland respond to the COVID-19 crisis, the Law Reform Commission has said. In a paper presented to a recent joint conference of four neighbouring law reform bodies, the commission said the implementation of various recommendations made over the past decade could help Ireland dea

Legislation providing for a range of court reforms to meet the challenges and legal issues of the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought into effect. The Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020, which was signed into law earlier this month, has been commenced with effect from toda

A prominent doctor has called for emergency legislation to close down or strip licenses from businesses in order to control the risk of COVID-19. Dr Gabriel Scally told the Irish Independent that the State must act against businesses that are aiding the spread of the virus.

Workers in Northern Ireland who are laid off while furloughed will receive redundancy pay based on their normal wages under changes welcomed by employment lawyers. The new law, announced by Economy Minister Diane Dodds yesterday, will bring Northern Ireland in line with changes made in the rest of t

The Government will explore giving greater powers to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) after concerns were raised about a "loophole" which meant employers had no legal obligation to report cases of the coronavirus in the workplace. Following a meeting with the HSA yesterday, a spokeswoman for&nb

An Garda Síochána's response to domestic abuse during the COVID-19 crisis is "the best it has ever been in Ireland", a new report suggests. The Policing Authority yesterday published its half-year assessment of policing performance, which highlights in particular the success of Operati

Justice Minister Naomi Long has backed calls for the UK government to publish three controversial contracts struck with three companies for PPE at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Good Law Project, led by founder Jo Maugham QC, has issued three sets of judicial review proceedings in relation

Insurance companies should pay plaintiffs' legal costs in test cases concerning COVID-19 claims on business interruption insurance policies, the Central Bank of Ireland has said. The Central Bank has published its COVID-19 and business interruption insurance supervisory framework, which aims to seek

At least £150 million has been wasted on unusable PPE procured from a company linked to government ministers, according to papers released through judicial review proceedings. The Good Law Project, led by founder Jo Maugham QC, is pursuing litigation over the UK government's "PPE fiasco" at th

Dr Sarah Fulham-McQuillan, assistant professor at UCD Sutherland School of Law, considers the legal basis for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. Promising results from COVID-19 vaccine trials emerged last month, while concern grows about the non-attendance by close contacts of coronavirus patients for

The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) has announced that it will re-commence hearing appeals at its Dublin premises from Thursday. The tribunal has published an updated administrative practice note which sets out its plans for hearings at its Hanover Street premises. Some hearings wil

More than 5,000 local law firms and up to half of law centres in England and Wales could go bust as a result of the COVID-19 crisis if the UK government does not step in, MPs have warned. In a new report, Westminster's justice select committee has urged the Ministry of Justice to consider further gr

More than 3,500 solicitors and trainee solicitors have registered for free CPD courses offered by the Law Society of Ireland in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The Law Society revised its rules following the outbreak of COVID-19 to allow solicitors to complete their required 20 hours of CPD trainin

In-house lawyers are more likely to include pandemics in their standard force majeure clauses following the COVID-19 crisis, a survey conducted by business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran LLP has found. The survey of nearly 80 in-house lawyers from both the public and private sector shows that the

A woman has been jailed for nine months after spitting in the face of a key worker at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Belfast woman Pauline Burns, 56, pleaded guilty in Belfast Crown Court to one count of common assault on 4 April 2020.