Category: Ireland
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Philip Allott: UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement: A Legal Speculation
Without any inside information, and with only the small amount of information publicly available, the following is a personal speculation about the legal context of the UK/EU agreement that is currently being negotiated. (Disclaimer: This is the most complicated legal situation that I have come across in sixty years of professional involvement with the law.…
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Eoin Carolan: Suspended Declarations of Invalidity in Ireland?: The Story So Far
Last week saw the much-anticipated return before the Supreme Court of Ireland of the proceedings in NHV v. Minister for Justice and Equality. At the hearing on Thursday, the Court provided important clarification about a recent innovation in Irish remedial practice: its earlier endorsement of (something like) a suspended declaration of invalidity. Background At the…
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Colin Harvey: Northern Ireland’s Transition and the Constitution of the UK
Constitutional Law in Context Context matters in law. Northern Ireland has a devolved executive and legislature; but the constitutional transition should not be viewed exclusively as a tale of devolution within the UK. To do so would be to neglect the particular circumstances, and thus risk perpetuating an impoverished understanding of constitutional change. The danger…
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Eoin Carolan: Some Lessons from Ireland’s Marriage Referendum?
Almost six months after being popularly endorsed in a widely publicised referendum, Ireland’s first same-sex marriages took place on November 17th last. While the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015 was amongst the more high-profile attempts at constitutional change in recent years, the vote was actually one of eight referenda on constitutional…
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Colin Harvey: Citizenship and Political Rights in Ireland
Cross-posted from RightsNI. Ireland’s system of voting rights (for Irish citizens) places particular emphasis on residency within the state. With some limited exceptions, there is a near blanket exclusion of citizens outside of the state. The position is now widely questioned. In September 2013, the Convention on the Constitution voted in favour of proposals to…
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Paul Daly: Death, Democracy and Delegation
Decisions on when to end one’s life are unquestionably of the greatest intimacy. Yet there is a clear public interest in ensuring that these decisions are carefully regulated to ensure the safety of the vulnerable. Accordingly, quite what legal framework should govern end-of-life-decisions — if, indeed, there should be any framework at all — is…
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Patrick O’Brien: Judicial Independence and the Irish Referendum on Judicial Pay
If all goes to plan, this week the wording of a new amendment to the Irish Constitution will be finalised. The amendment is designed to permit reductions to the pay of judges and will be voted on in a referendum on 27th October. The reason for the amendment is well known: the Irish government has…