Reports on Public Interest Issues

The Society regularly publishes reports on areas of public interest and focuses, in particular, on those areas that would affect the community in general and would benefit from reform of the law.

Law Reform

The Law Society has produced a range of reports on the reform of specific areas of law and continues to monitor the relevant areas of law, makes submissions to Government Departments and policy makers, and assists with submissions on any new legislation. 

• Submission on Proposed Mental Capacity Legislation - August 2011
• Submission on Scheme of Mental Capacity Bill 2008 - February 2009
• Enforcement of Environmental Law: The Case for Reform - April 2008
• Child Law Report - March 2006
• Charity Law Report - July 2002
• Nullity of Marriage Report - October 2001
• Case for the Independent Representation of Children - May 2001
• Adoption Law Report - April 2000
• Mental Health Report - July 1999
• Domestic Violence Report  - May 1999

Human Rights

The Human Rights Committee were involved in the following reports and submissions.

• Proposed Gender Recognition Bill - submission in December 2011
• Spent Convictions Scheme Report
  This report was the result of research undertaken by the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society, in conjunction with Ballymun Community Law Centre, Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force, Business in the Community, Northside Community Law Centre and Northside Partnership. It was launched on 14th May, 2009 by Mr. John Lonergan, Governor of Mountjoy Prison. One of the recommendations of the report is that a spent convictions scheme should be available to all offenders, irrespective of the crime committed or the sentence imposed. 
• ECHR Act 2003: Preliminary Assessment of Impact (pdf file 4.29mb)
  This report, sponsored by the Law Society Human Rights Committee and the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association was launched on 23rd October 2006. Hard copies of the study are available for €12 (incl. p+p and advance payment would be appreciated). Please contact Esther McCormack on tel: (01) 762 4800 or email: e.mccormack@lawsociety.ie

Human Rights Conferences

2011 Conference: Ireland's Human Rights Record under the Spotlight, 22nd October, 2011. View the conference programme. 

2010 Conference: Emerging Human Rights Issues, 20th November, 2010.

• Opening Speech - John Costelloe, President, Law Society of Ireland
• Opening Speech - Maurice Manning, President of the Irish Human Rights Commission
• Keynote Speech - Professor Michael O'Flaherty
• Respondent Speech - Katherine Zappone
• LGBT Issues - Muriel Walls
• The Realisation of Marriage Equality in Ireland - Grainne Healy
• The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 - Hilkka Becker
• Data Protection - Billy Hawkes
• Data Protection and Retention - Karlin Lillington
• The Aarhus Convention and Access to Justice in Ireland - Michael Ewing
• Human rights and the environment: Overview of the legal framework - Dr Suzanne Kingston BL
• Our pension, our future – the National Pensions Reserve Fund - Mark Cumming
• Corporate Responsibility in Ireland - Tina Roche

Human Rights Annual Lectures

The 2011 Annual Human Rights Lecture took place on 10th May, 2011. Guest speaker, Ms. Gareth Pierce, gave an insightful lecture on the topic "Dispatches from the Dark Side: on Torture and the Death of Justice". See Gazette July 2011 article pp.16-17.

The 2010 Annual Human Rights Lecture was given by Mr. Morris Dees on 19th May. See Gazette June 2010 article, pp 10-11.

View previous lecture papers 2005-2009 here.

For more information on the programmes and papers from these conferences, please contact the Society's Human Rights Committee.