Jason O'Sullivan, solicitor and public affairs consultant at J.O.S Solicitors, examines the dilemma employers will face when they encounter employees who refuse to take the vaccine and what measures they should take to deal with them. As the rollout continues with the Covid-19 vaccinations, its welc
Coronavirus
Thousands of UK businesses will receive payouts for coronavirus-related business interruption losses after the UK Supreme Court sided with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a landmark test case. The complex 112-page judgment augurs poorly for Irish insurers in a similar test case in the Irish
The Law Society of Ireland has not followed the Bar Council in asking the government to include lawyers in the "key worker" priority category for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. The government's Covid-19 vaccine allocation strategy says key workers are provisionally sixth in line to be vaccinated aft
Disabled people are being "left behind" and excluded from decision-making when it comes to Covid-19 planning by the State, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has warned. The watchdog pointed to the issue of school closures and disabled students’ specific educational needs as the la
Barristers should be included in the "key worker" category for the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine, the Bar Council of Ireland has said.
A female prisoner in Northern Ireland has tested positive for Covid-19 for the first time, the Northern Ireland Prison Service has said. The positive test at Hydebank Wood College comes around four months after the first positive test of a prisoner in Northern Ireland in Maghaberry last September.
Judges should challenge family lawyers who send emails outside acceptable hours, the president of the family courts in England and Wales has said. In an update on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the family courts, Sir Andrew McFarlane said court hearings and emails taking place "without any r
Nearly four in ten Irish-listed companies held closed AGMs in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report from business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran LLP. The firm's AGM Season Report 2020 reviews the types of AGMs that took place during the pandemic and the implications of
Property sales and viewings can continue under the new Covid-19 restrictions in Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities has confirmed. The Northern Ireland Executive imposed increased restrictions for six weeks beginning 26 December 2020, which will be tightened further on Friday.
The High Court has ordered that Ryanair must pay the State’s fees in its unsuccessful challenge of the legality of the Government of Ireland’s coronavirus travel advice. Background
The International Convention Centre in Belfast (ICC) has been deployed as Northern Ireland's first "Nightingale venue" to facilitate court and tribunals business. However, the ICC is only being used for jury assembly this week pending "rigorous risk assessments", which the Northern Ireland Courts an
A former lawyer who used social media to report from Wuhan following the first outbreak of Covid-19 last February has been jailed for four years for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old human rights activist who was also detained in 2019 for speaking in support of anti
Immigration and international protection permissions have been temporarily extended for a further two months. This is the sixth extension announced by Justice Minister Helen McEntee since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the third described as "final".
Physical visits to Irish prisons will be suspended from midnight tomorrow under the latest Covid-19 restrictions. All physical visits booked after 24 December 2020 have now been cancelled and families have been urged to rebook a video visit.
There should be an expansion in the use of remote and "hybrid" hearings to avoid the backlog in civil cases growing next year, commercial and insurance risk law specialist BLM has said. The Courts Service announced earlier this month that the backlog in the summons scheduling waiting list has been r