Public health and religion
Are you allowed to hold or attend religious services in Ireland?
And why is the answer obscure?
Master of the Rolls
Yesterday, England and Wales welcomed its (at least) 98th Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos. As long ago as 2018 he extolled ‘telepresence’ videoconferencing, and argued for judges and lawyers to be trained in tech. The office goes back to 1286 or earlier — which doesn’t seem much longer ago than 2018. It was already old when Thomas Cromwell…
Lessons from that phone call
On 2 January, a Saturday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reluctantly got on an hour long conference call with US President Donald Trump. What can we learn?
Curtailing judicial review
Ireland’s recent civil justice review proposes new barriers limiting access to judicial review of public decisions and actions.
Law firms on the soap box
Big Dublin law firms are debating court system changes. Where will they stand on access to justice?
construction | contracts | disputes | Ireland
TWEAKING CONCILIATION: New private sector contract (2)
The new private sector contract uses binding conciliation of disputes. I propose using conciliation to avoid disputes. And go back to having it non-binding. There is adjudication for binding decisions on a payment disputes.
New private sector contract: a few things
It was a privilege to be asked to participate in the launch of the new Irish private sector contract on 15 September. The PSC is being sponsored by the Construction Industry Federation, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, and Engineers Ireland.
Hard law, soft law: business and human rights
Human rights arethe concern of governments. But not just governments. Individuals and corporations can contribute—positively and negatively—to the realisation of human rights.
This paper accompanied a lecture I gave to the Law Society’s corporate social responsibility certificate course in May 2020. It was the first time I recorded a lecture in an empty room for remote delivery. A surreal experience.
Modern slavery: Does procurement law give a remedy? (2018)
According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) governments should promote respect for human rights by those with whom they do business. They should also take steps to ensure that their domestic judicial mechanisms are effective as a route for victims of business-related human rights abuses to access a legal remedy. I look at whether Ireland’s regulations under the 2014 Directives provide a remedy—by establishing potential liability—for infringement of core labour rights in public supply chains, in line with the UNGPs.
