Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s High Court has determined that a mother of two children was not entitled to vote on whether or not her children should be placed on the Child Protection Registry. The court found that she was appropriately involved and represented in the procedure, and that the question of w

The PSNI has issued an apology to the so-called "Hooded Men", acknowledging that their treatment "would be characterised today as torture" and was "not acceptable at that time and is not acceptable by modern standards of policing". Joe Clarke — one of the 14 men subjected to the controversial

The Franco-British Lawyers Society is inviting practitioners to join its visit to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which will take place on 3 and 4 July. The visit will start with a hearing at the General Court, to be preceded by a short introduction to the case from one of the réfé

A farmer in Co Antrim has been fined £2,000 for unauthorised works to a scheduled monument which has existed for more than 1,000 years. Ballymena man Robin Hunter, 54, from Woodside Road, Ballymena, appeared at Antrim County Court for an appeal hearing yesterday.

Scottish judge Lord Turnbull has been appointed as chair of the coming statutory inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing. The UK government announced in February that it would launch an inquiry into the preventability of the bombing, which was orchestrated by the Real IRA and led to the deaths of 29 peo

Sir Declan Morgan, the former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland appointed to lead the proposed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), has urged the Irish government to co-operate with the new body. The creation of the body is a key component of the UK govern

Northern Ireland solicitors have been encouraged to use gender-inclusive alternatives to the salutation "Dear Sirs". The Law Society of Northern Ireland's human rights and equality committee said solicitors should drop the "outdated and non-inclusive practice" in favour of alternatives such as "Dear

Northern Ireland schools are failing to meet statutory human rights standards in their teaching of relationships and sexuality, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has concluded in a new report. The rights body carried out an investigation to assess the extent to which post-primary schools

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal which claimed that a sentence of four years’ imprisonment for hijacking a car was manifestly excessive. The court found that the trial court was correct to impose this sentence, given the seriousness of the circumstances of the c

The UK government has tabled new amendments to its controversial legacy bill — but human rights campaigners have said they "do nothing to address the fundamental flaws with the bill". The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill has already been approved by MPs and is current

Racism is "a normal part of day-to-day-life" for people in Northern Ireland from minority ethnic and migrant groups, according to new research commissioned by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. The rights body commissioned independent think tank Pivotal to examine the actual, perceived, a

The UK government has been criticised again by the Council of Europe's committee of ministers over its proposed legacy bill's compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. The committee has responsibility for monitoring the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human R

Queen's University Belfast School of Law has launched a new Global Intellectual Property and Technology Centre (G-IPTech) aimed at becoming a global hub of excellence for intellectual property and technology law. Professor Giancarlo Frosio has been appointed as director of the centre, an interdiscip

The Bar of Northern Ireland’s rule of law committee has announced the commencement of a new series of events and discussions, the “Advancing the Rule of Law Series”. The aim of the “Advancing The Rule of Law Series” is to encourage awareness of the importance of the rul

The chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland, Jacqui Durkin, has called for a "fundamental reset" within the PSNI and the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to improve the quality of prosecution files and speed of case progression. Ms Durkin said clear objectives coupled with governance