Northern Ireland

The UK government remains committed to its Northern Ireland Troubles legislation despite a ruling that it is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 received royal assent in September last year in the face of widespread

Criminal barristers in Northern Ireland are to stage a one-day strike on Friday 17 November 2023 in an escalating dispute over delays in legal aid payments. The local Criminal Bar Association (CBA) previously balloted members on a withdrawal of services in response to “unprecedented and worsen

Criminal barristers in Northern Ireland will walk out next month in a legal aid dispute – just weeks after barristers south of the border secured a significant increase in fees in a similar action. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) balloted members on a withdrawal of services in response to "

The Supreme Court has rejected two unionist legal challenges to the lawfulness of the Northern Ireland Protocol. One of the two challenges, which were heard together last year, was brought by a group of senior unionist politicians led by Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister and inclu

The UK government has said it will set out a timetable this week for reaching a fresh decision on whether to order an inquiry into the 1998 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Northern Ireland’s High Court last month quashed a decision by the UK government not to establish a public inqui

The UK’s exit from the EU has plunged Ireland’s all-island energy market into a democratic deficit with decisions on Northern Ireland’s energy supply no longer in the hands of its citizens and government, new research has shown. The cross-border Single Electricity Market (SEM) was

UK government plans to address the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland represent a "full-frontal attack on the rule of law" in spite of revisions making an amnesty conditional on co-operation with authorities, campaigners have said. This week's Queen's speech, setting out the government's legisla

A free book exploring the law and practice of the Northern Ireland protocol has been published online. Edited by Professor Christopher McCrudden of Queen's University Belfast (QUB), the book was produced in "close partnership" with the Office of the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

The late Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore "embodied" the case for always having a judge from Northern Ireland on the Supreme Court bench, Lady Hale has said. The former Supreme Court president reflected on the importance of the court having judges from all parts of the United Kingdom as she addressed a virtu

Northern Ireland's first woman chief justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan and the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC MP, have marked the opening of the new legal year in Northern Ireland.

A group of human rights NGOs, academics and lawyers has warned that new legacy proposals from the UK government "would breach both international law and the domestic Human Rights Act, deliver impunity, bury truth recovery and fundamentally undermine the rule of law". An open letter signed by 18 orga

Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan has been appointed as Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman ever to hold the highest judicial position in Northern Ireland. She will be sworn in as successor to the incumbent Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, at the start of September 2021 &

It would be highly unwise for referendums on the constitutional future of Northern Ireland to be called without a clear plan for what follows, a major 18-month research project has concluded. The Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland, established by the UCL Constitution U

Any changes to the Human Rights Act 1998 could "significantly undermine Northern Ireland's unique constitutional settlement", The Bar of Northern Ireland has said. In its submission to the UK government's review of the law, it said it "would not support any amendments to the HRA as part of this revi

Human rights organisations have urged US president-elect Joe Biden to help protect the Good Friday Agreement as the UK reaches the end of the Brexit transition period. A briefing paper signed by 14 organisations north and south of the Irish border was sent to Biden's transition team, in particular t