Blogs

The Victims of Crime Act 2017 transposes Directive 2012/29EU into Irish law and defines a victim as “a natural person who suffered harm including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss which was directly caused by an offence”. Denise Kirwan, a partner in child and family law

Andrea Martin comments on social media regulation in the wake of the Ana Kriegel case. Two 14-year-old boys have become the youngest convicted murderers in the history of the State after being found guilty of the murder of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel.

After increasingly positive noises around a potential trade deal between the USA and China (even the exchange of “beautiful letters” between presidents), recent weeks have seen both sides double down, levying increased tariffs in what many are now describing as a renewed trade war, write

Tina English and Lee O'Donovan look at a recent opinion from the European Court on the scope of 'takedown orders' imposed on host providers. Advocate General Szpunar (the “AG”) of the Court of Justice (“CJEU”) has stated in a noteworthy opinion that the E-Commerce Directive (

Andrew Kirke considers the controversial Copyright Directive, designed to control how copyrighted content is shared on online platforms. The Directive and its most controversial component, Article 13, requires online platforms to filter or remove unauthorised copyrighted material from their websites

Rossa McMahon, solicitor at PG McMahon Solicitors, responds to recent comments about personal injury claims and the impact on insurance costs. Pat McDonagh has made, as ever, some interesting points about personal injury cases. He is absolutely right that insurance premiums have risen in recent year

Pat Daly, partner at Cantillons Solicitors in Cork, writes on settlements without admission of liability in medical negligence cases. As a solicitor who has specialised in medical negligence cases for almost 30 years, I am calling for the farcical practice of settling cases “without admission

Dr Eoin Daly, lecturer in law at NUI Galway, and Dr David Kenny, assistant professor of law at Trinity College Dublin, examine the Government's use of the "money message" to control legislation. Controversy has erupted recently over the Government delaying the Climate Emergency Bill using an obscure

On 15 August 1857, Maria Theresa Longworth and Major William Charles Yelverton got married in a Catholic Church near Rostrevor. They had previously married in Edinburgh on or about 13 April 1857 according to Scottish law; however, Theresa refused to cohabit with Major Yelverton until they were marri

Dr Eoin Guilfoyle, teaching associate in law at University of Bristol Law School, considers proposals to introduce sentencing guidelines in Ireland. In comparison to other common law jurisdictions, Ireland has a relatively unstructured sentencing system. Judges in Ireland have a high degree of discr

Dr Kevin Sweeney, author of Arrest, Detention and Questioning: Law and Practice, explores the law in Ireland and the EU on access to information in criminal proceedings in his article for Irish Legal News. In the Sunday Times newspaper of June 2, 2019, the chairwoman of the Irish Criminal Bar Associ

On 9 June 1976, Marie and Noel Murray were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. In September 1975, Garda Michael Reynolds was fatally shot in the head while chasing two men and a woman who had robbed the Bank of Ireland in Killester at gunpoint. The Murrays were arrested and charged w

In 1830, Sir Jonah Barrington became the only High Court judge to be dismissed from office by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Jonah Barrington was a lawyer, judge and politician born at Knaptou, near Abbeyleix. The fourth child of impoverished landowner John Barrington, he was immediate

David Taylor, solicitor in the child and family law team at Comyn Kelleher Tobin, considers a recent High Court judgment clarifying the powers of the District Court under the Child Care Act 1991. A recent decision of the High Court found that the District Court judge was entitled to make an order un

John Toler, the first Earl of Norbury, earned his reputation as “the hanging judge” during his time as a particularly callous judge in Ireland in the late 18th and early 19th century. In a somewhat contradictory trait, Toler is often described as having those in his courtroom – inc