Human Rights in Ireland

As part of its continuing development, the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University intends to appoint a Professor in Law. The appointment, for a fixed term of ten years, will commence on 1 September 2012. This is a new appointment and is an indication of a firm commitment by the university to the development of law at DCU.

Applications are welcome from candidates with a demonstrated track record of publications in high impact academic journals and who are committed to the development of teaching and research in law. The successful candidates will be expected to play a major role in providing leadership and strategic direction to law in DCU. They will make a substantial contribution to the development and delivery of the School’s existing taught programmes, in particular the BCL(Law and Society) and also in the planning and delivery of future developments in law. They should have a track record in leading research teams and a commitment to the generation of external research funding for the school. Read Full Post »

The DCU Socio-Legal Studies Review is accepting submissions for its inaugural volume. The review is a peer-reviewed law journal, which focuses on socio-legal scholarly work, both national and international. This is the only such review in Ireland, and represents a unique platform for work by scholars and practitioners in this area.

Socio-Legal studies encompass the study of law in society. This includes empirical and theoretical research both at the national and international level, focusing on the social, cultural and economic context in which laws are made and enforced. For more information on socio-legal research see the homepage of the Socio-Legal Research Centre. Submissions are welcome on a broad range of legal issues, which evaluate the impact of legal rules on the society in which they operate and consider the influence of society on the Read Full Post »

On Friday November 18th the First Irish Penology Symposium will be hosted by the Law Faculty at Griffith College Cork. The event, organised by Clíodhna Dineen, GCC & Dr. Liam Leonard, IT Sligo, will take place in the Sullivan’s Quay campus and will run from 9am to 5pm.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Ciarán McCullagh, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Sociology, UCC who will discuss “Prisons and the Failure to Reform”.

For further information click here.

An additional speaker has been added to the programme for the “Law on…Risk” seminar which takes place at DCU this Thursday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Speakers Kris Gledhill, Áine Hynes and Chairperson Mr Justice Roderick Murphy will be joined by Mark Wilson from the Irish Probation Service. Mark is the Operational Regional Manager for the Probation Service for Dublin North and the North East. He has extensive knowledge and expertise in the area of risk assessment in probation work, especially in relation to high risk offenders generally, sex offenders, life sentence prisoners, parole, post-custody supervision, and the wider range of risk assessment procedures and structures used by the Probation Service.  Mark has held lead strategic responsibilities in this area on behalf of the Probation Service, including forging critical interagency and international links. His presentation at the Law on Risk seminar will be based on his experience and expertise.

Anyone wishing to reserve a place at the seminar (for which 2 CPD points will be available) should contact yvonne.daly@dcu.ie

The Socio-Legal Research Centre at Dublin City University will host the third in its “Law on…” seminar series on Thursday November 17^th 2011 at 6.30pm.

The theme of this seminar will be “Law on…Risk” and it will focus on risk assessment in the criminal process in the context of mentally disordered offenders, persons seeking parole and temporary release.

The seminar will be chaired by The Honourable Mr Justice Roderick Murphy of the High Court (Judge in Residence at the School of Law and Government, DCU) and it will be addressed by Kris Gledhill, Lecturer in Law, University of Auckland, New Zealand and Áine Hynes, Chairperson of the Irish Mental Health Lawyers’ Association.

Certification of attendance for the purposes of the CPD scheme will be available to attendees on request (2 hours).

The event is free of charge but prior registration is requested by emailing yvonne.daly@dcu.ie

See speaker profiles and further information below. See also www.dcu.ie/socio-legal Read Full Post »

The Socio-Legal Research Centre at Dublin City University will host an event, with the view to potentially establishing an Irish Socio-Legal Studies Network on August 29th at 5pm in HG17, the Nursing Building, DCU.

Professor Rebecca Wallace from Robert Gordon University and Detective Superintendent Noel Clarke from the Garda Anti-Human Trafficking Unit will address the topics of trafficking of children and separated children. These talks will be followed by a short reception.

The Nursing Building is the first building on the left when you enter the Collins Avenue Entrance to DCU.  Parking will be available in the multi-storey carpark on campus, which is a 2 minute walk from the Nursing Building (see the campus map here).

All are welcome to attend this event and to engage in some discussion about the possible establishment of an Irish Socio-Legal Studies Network.

Any queries in relation to this event should be directed to Dr. Noelle Higgins: noelle.higgin[at]dcu.ie

Further information on the Socio-Legal Research Centre is available here.

The Report of the Thornton Hall Project Review Group was published by the Minister for Justice and Equality on Thursday of last week, July 28 2011. The Group was established by the Minister, Alan Shatter T.D., in early April 2011 with specific terms of reference which, basically, provided for a review of the need for new prison accommodation in the jurisdiction and consideration of the future of the Thornton Hall prison project. The Review Group’s report is interesting from a number of perspectives. The recommendations relating directly to the future of the Thornton Hall prison project are more than noteworthy; observations and recommendations made regarding other aspects of the prison system and the state of the prison estate in Ireland at present are intriguing; and statistics provided on the levels of imprisonment, the use of temporary release and the pervasive problem of over-crowding are fascinating. Read Full Post »

While there are a number of interesting cases in the Irish courts at the moment (not least among them the (now settled) case of two young Kerry brothers, aged 14 and 8, seeking a High Court order against the GAA to allow them to play Gaelic football for Listry rather than Ballyhar-Firies) one which caught my eye was the High Court “missing evidence” decision reported in last Friday’s Irish Times. This was a decision of Kearns P. in the High Court refusing to prohibit the trial of the applicant who claimed that the absence of certain evidence would lead to a real risk of an unfair trial. The applicant, an articulated lorry driver, is charged with dangerous driving causing the death of another lorry driver on the M4 motorway in November 2008. He argued, before the High Court, that the gardaí had failed to preserve the two vehicles involved in the collision, that, accordingly, he could not have an engineer inspect the vehicles on his behalf, and that all of this led to a real risk of an unfair trial. Kearns P. held that the circumstances of the instant case were not such as to deem it one of the exceptional “missing evidence” cases which might justify the prohibition of the impending trial Read Full Post »

On the 26^th and 27^th of May 2011, Deauville in northern France will host a G8 summit. Among many other items for discussion the March earthquake in Japan, a long-standing member of the G8 (and the original G6), and the nuclear crisis which the quake precipitated are likely to be central. Prime Minister Naoto Kan is also planning, it seems, to make an announcement at the summit in relation to quite a different issue: accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This Convention, which was concluded in October 1980 and entered into force between signatory states in December 1983, essentially provides a mechanism whereby a child (under 16 years of age) abducted across international borders may be promptly returned to the country of his/her habitual residence. It provides no substantive rights, but insists that a court in which a Convention action is initiated should not enquire into the merits of any custody argument relating to the relevant child, but determine only in what jurisdiction such issues should be heard. The Convention requires the return of any child who was an habitual resident of a signatory state immediately before the abduction. It applies to both parental abduction (i.e. one parent removing the child from the jurisdiction without the consent of the other) and abduction by others. Read Full Post »

On Friday last, March 25th 2011, in ED v DPP the High Court ruled that section 12 of the Immigration Act 2004 was unconstitutional. Section 12 provided that non-national persons (other than those born in Ireland or under the age of 16) shall on the demand of an immigration officer or member of the Garda Síochána, produce (a) a valid passport or other equivalent document, issued by or on behalf of an authority recognised by the Government, which establishes his or her identity and nationality, and (b) in case he or she is registered or deemed to be registered under the Act, his or her registration certificate. Failure to produce the required documentation without providing a satisfactory explanation of the circumstances which prevented the person from so doing was deemed an offence punishable by a fine of up to €3000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months or both.

While the judgment itself is as yet unavailable, the Irish Times reports that the finding of unconstitutionality by the High Court centred on the vagueness and uncertainty of the legislative provision, rather than on the concept of requiring the production of identification documents in and of itself. Read Full Post »