Opinion

The practice of penal transportation as a form of criminal punishment used by the British began in the early 1600s and “did not formally cease until the penal settlement on the Andaman Islands was wound up in 1945” (Maxwell-Stewart, 2010). During the 330 years of penal transportation, Ir

Darryl Broderick, partner and head of litigation and dispute resolution at Ronan Daly Jermyn, welcomes new rules on media access to court files. New Court Rules relating to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court were introduced on 1 August 2018 which allow the media access to documents on

Dermot Walsh, professor of law at the University of Kent, writes on the record of the Garda watchdog. For the past 11 years the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) has been entrusted with the primary responsibility of investigating complaints of corruption, abuse and neglect by

Liam Herrick, executive director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), writes following yesterday's settlement between Amnesty and Sipo. For community and voluntary organisations across Ireland, yesterday’s settlement of the court proceedings between Amnesty International Ireland a

In the State (Nicolaou) v An Bord Uchtála, the Supreme Court heard the case of an unmarried father who sought an order of certiorari to quash an adoption order made by An Bord Uchtála. Mr Nicolaou, a Cypriot national living in London, had been in a relationship with Ms Donnelly and the

Striking the balance between reporting allegations and respecting privacy in cases of alleged sexual misdeeds is a thorny issue, writes Fintan Canavan, partner at BLM. The decision to award Sir Cliff Richard a significant sum for a breach of his right to privacy comes at a time when issues of f

The eagerly awaited judgment in the case of Owens v Owens was handed down by the Supreme Court yesterday and marks the first time the Court had been asked to rule on the issue of divorce itself, as opposed to financial issues that arise because of divorce, writes Julie Tierney. Mrs Owens filed for d

The UK government’s White Paper is an important step towards avoiding a ‘hard’ border in Ireland. However, sustaining the rule of law in the Irish border region will depend on institutional co-operation, writes Jan van Zyl Smit (Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law). By proposin

John Kelly looks at the merits of drawing up a modern slavery statement. Modern slavery significant problem in NI’… ‘PSNI receive 31 trafficking and modern slavery cases’… ‘People being kept as human slaves on a daily basis across Northe

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates writes on the upcoming gender pay gap disclosure legislation. In June, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan introduced the general scheme for the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill.

Brehon law, which was codified in the 7th and survived until 17th century, has been described in some instances as being moderately progressive in regards to women’s rights and issues like divorce. Given that divorce was prohibited in Ireland from 1937 until the marriage referendum in 1995, th

Ronan Geary, partner at Ronan Daly Jermyn in Cork, offers insights into a recent court ruling on discovery. The Court of Appeal per Hogan J. has issued a judgement in Tobin v The Minister for Defence & Ors which suggests a more restrictive approach to discovery. The case concerned a personal inj

Olivia O'Kane, partner at Belfast firm Carson McDowell, comments on yesterday's court ruling in favour of Sir Cliff Richard. Today’s ruling will have several major implications for future cases in this area of media law and it undoubtedly marks a shift toward enhanced privacy rights protection

Gillian Rea Gillian Rea, solicitor at Dublin firm Baily Homan Smyth McVeigh, writes on changes to the legal framework of clinical trials in the European Union.

Photo credit: Steve Ford Elliott, CC BY 2.0 The native system of law in Ireland, Brehon law, was first written down in the 7th century and survived until the 17th century. The law was administered by Brehons, and Redwood Castle in Tipperary (pictured) is said to have been where the MacAodhagáin cla