This Legal Links area includes a comprehensive review of Irish, European and International legal online resources, directories and subscription services.
Browser the categories below to find websites of legal interest.below.
Ireland
Caselaw
Courts Service
Full text ‘Judgments’ database – Supreme Court judgments since 2001; High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal judgments since 2004.
BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute)
Full text of Supreme Court, High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal judgments since 2000 and selected pre-2000 judgments
IRLII (Irish Legal Information Initiative)
Full text recent Irish cases and selected pre-2000 cases. Indexes to cases.
Gateways
BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute)
Full text searchable database of British and Irish case law and legislation. Full text of Irish Supreme Court, High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal written judgments since 2000 and selected pre-2000 judgments.
Citizens Information
The Citizens Information Board is the national support agency responsible for providing information, advice and advocacy on social services. It contains a useful number of publications on employment rights, entitlements for the over 60s, entitlements for people with disabilities, one parent families.
Irish Government
This is the main government website providing information on the Irish State. It has links to the Houses of the Oireachtas, all State organisations, government departments as well as links to useful websites such as the Budget, National Spatial Strategy and National Development Plan and the Irish Statute Book.
Irish Law - UCC
Maintained by the Law Department of UCC. Contains a vast amount of information and links on Irish law.
IRLII (Irish Legal Information Initiative)
This website is hosted by the Faculty of Law, UCC law, to complement its contribution to the BAILII website but deals exclusively with Irish material. Includes selected pre-2000 Supreme Court and High Court decisions. Maintains the Legal Periodicals index – see below.
Legal Periodicals
An index of Irish legal periodicals from 1997 onwards, maintained by IRLII at the Faculty of Law, UCC.
Venables Web Site
Information on the main legal web sites in Ireland, including Irish legal publishers, Irish software suppliers, jobs and recruitment companies, providers of CPD and lists of Irish solicitors with links to their web sites.
Government Departments
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
This is a particularly useful website in relation to employment rights and industrial relations. It contains useful information leaflets on virtually all employment legislation.
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
This contains useful links to all the acts and statutory instruments concerning immigration, asylum and citizenship legislation. It also has links to all the relevant Garda Síochána acts and regulations and also links to equality legislation.
Irish Government
Links to all Government Departments.
Legal Associations
Dublin Solicitors Bar Association
Has the current issue of the DSBA magazine, The Parchment, available to download; also back issues from Spring 2005 onwards. Has details of precedent agreements available to purchase from the DSBA. Also details of forthcoming seminars.
Irish Taxation Institute
Has a number very useful guides and briefings on the Irish tax system and on the various taxes. Full details of the Institute’s publications, that are available to purchase, and its Taxfind online service (subscription service).
Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners Ireland (STEP Ireland)
Advice to practitioners in the areas of trusts and estates, executorships, administration and related taxes. The website has a number of full text articles; also a list of seminar papers available to purchase.
Galway Solicitors Bar Association
Represents its members and provides assistance to all solicitors in Galway city and county.
Legislation
Attorney General’s Office
This website contains useful restatements of the law which are combined versions of various related acts and their amendments. There are restatements of the Sale of Goods Acts, Defence Acts, Tourist Traffic Acts and the Succession Act.
Houses of the Oireachtas
This contains the Acts of the Oireachtas, Bills and explanatory memoranda to Bills in pdf since 1997. It also has a link to the Irish Statute Book (above). It also includes all Dáil and Seanad parliamentary debates from 1919 to date and also Select Committee debates from 1999 to date.
Irish Statute Book
It contains all the Acts of the Oireachtas and Statutory Instruments from 1922. Also the chronological tables of the Statutes shows how Acts have been subsequently affected (Legislation Directory).
Law Reform Commission - Revised Acts
The Commission produces Revised Acts which are administrative consolidations of Acts with amendments incorporated, to allow the legislation to be read seamlessly as amended. This site contains over 200 Revised Acts and is growing. They are selected, commonly used Acts such as the Succession Act 1965, the Road Traffic, Family and Employment Law Acts, and also all textually amended Acts from 2006 onwards other than Social Welfare and Finance Acts. The Commission is also responsible for updating the Legislation Directory found on the Irish Statute Book website.
State Organisations
An Bord Pleanála
This is a useful website if you are involved in the submission of an objection to a development or an appeal from a local authority to An Bord Pleanála. Details of cases and latest stage reached, planning appeal information, publications.
Certificates.ie
A convenient and quick service where you can order a birth, adoption, marriage, civil partnership or death certificate online at the statutory cost plus postage. This popular resource is run by the Civil Registration Service, part of the Health Service Executive.
Companies Registration Office
Contains guidelines on the registration of a business name and how to lodge forms online. It also allows simple company searches, free of charge.
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission website has links to the relevant legislation. It contains useful information on the procedure involved in mergers and acquisitions and past reports of the Commission.
Courts Service
Publishes the daily Legal Diary for the Superior Courts and the Circuit Court and has an archive of the issues published during the current court term and the immediately preceding court term. The website contains all the updated rules and fees relevant to the Superior Courts, Circuit Court and District Court. It also has a number of useful forms including summonses for noise pollution under environmental legislation, Circuit Court forms, probate forms, High Court civil forms and useful forms for a Wards of Court application. The ‘Judgments’ database contains the full text written judgments of the Supreme Court since 2001 and of the High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal since 2004.
Equality Authority
Useful equality related articles, information booklets, research publications and codes of practice together with the Authority’s Annual Reports. Also contains useful summaries of equality legislation and various leave entitlements.
Workplace Relations Commission
The Workplace Relations Commission website has a number of guides to employment equality including complaint forms. It also has a useful database with full text decisions and summaries of decisions over the past ten years, which can be a useful guide to the outcome of cases that may be pending before the Commission.
Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman
Many financial service providers may be subject to an investigation by the Ombudsman, in particular banks, building societies, insurance companies, mortgage brokers and health insurance companies. It sets out the initial steps required to formalise a complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, and it also contains the necessary complaint form.
Skillnet Ireland
Skillnet Ireland is dedicated to developing enterprise-led learning networks exclusively within the International Financial Services sector.
Health & Safety Authority
The Health & Safety Authority website contains a useful list of health and safety legislation under four categories: general legislation, chemical legislation, construction legislation and mines and quarries legislation. It also contains a number of useful guides in relation to issues such as manual handling, personal protective equipment etc, that may be useful in occupational injury litigation.
Human Rights Commission
The Irish Human Rights Commission website contains details on the Commission’s power and functions. It also contains links to various acts concerning human rights including the European Convention on Human Rights, the Good Friday Agreement and the Constitution.
Iris Oifigiúil
This is the official Irish State gazette. The website contains copies of all issues since 2002. Iris Oifigiúil publishes details of legislation enacted, newly made statutory instruments, exchequer statements, appointments to State boards, notices required under the Companies Acts and recently published government publications.
Law Reform Commission
Contains all the Law Reform Commission publications – consultation papers (formerly working papers), reports and annual reports.
Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement
The website of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement contains links to the Companies Acts and secondary legislation. It also sets out a guide to the duties of company directors. It provides a list of offences under the Companies Acts and a list of the powers available to the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
Office of the Press Ombudsman
The Office of the Press Ombudsman is part of a system of independent regulation for the printed media with the aim of resolving complaints from the public in relation to newspapers and magazines published in Ireland that are members of the Press Council of Ireland. Details of the Code of Practice and the complaints procedure, including an online complaints form, are available on the website.
Patents and Trademarks
This is the website of the Controller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. It provides a useful guide to patents, trademarks, designs and copyright and how to apply for registration of a patent, trademark or design.
Pensions Board
This is a useful guide to the regulations concerning pensions and contains a number of leaflets on items such as company pension plans, personal retirement saving accounts (PRSAs) and personal pensions.
Personal Injuries Assessment Board
The forms and publications section has all the application forms, the Book of Quantum and links to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Acts 2003 and 2007.
Residential Tenancies Board
This website contains useful guides to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. It also includes the registration form.
Property Registration Authority (PRA)
Contains practice directions and forms on all aspects of Land Registry and Registry of Deeds practice.
Refugee Information Service
This website contains an overview of the immigration and asylum legislation, the asylum process, the resident process and details about the family reunification scheme.
Residential Institutions Redress Board
This website contains a useful guide to the work of the Residential Institutions Redress Board. It contains details of the Act setting up the scheme and Statutory Instruments made pursuant to the Act. It also has available the general application form and the procedure involved in the hearing of a case and the documents that an applicant will have to have available for such a hearing.
Revenue Commissioners
This website contains a wide range of materials relating to tax practice including statements of practice, guidance notes, precedents, details of double taxation treaties and access to all revenue forms.
Workplace Relations Commission
Claims forms for all claims that can be dealt with by the Workplace Relations Commission are available to download and also a guide to making an application and links to the relevant employment legislation.
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United Kingdom
BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute)
Full text of court decisions mainly from the late 1990s onwards.
British Government
Gateway site with links to all government organisations.
House of Lords
All judgments from 14/11/1996 onwards.
Legal Resources in the UK and Ireland
Guide to legal websites and resources produced by Delia Venables, an IT specialist. Particularly useful for finding solicitors in the UK.
Legislation
The website of the Office of Public Sector Information, formerly Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. It has links to full text unamended UK Acts (since 1988) and Statutory Instruments (since 1987) and to Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh legislation.
Statute Law Database
This is the official revised version of the UK Statutes currently in force or in force as at any date from February 1991.
Scottish Courts
Session cases from 1998 onwards and selected judgments of the High Court and Sheriff Courts.
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Europe
European Union
This is the gateway site of the European Union. It provides up to date coverage of European Union affairs and essential information on European integration. It also has websites for each of the EU institutions. It has a link to EUR-LEX (EU Documents), the portal to EU law, containing treaties, regulations, directives and decisions, legislation in preparation and case law. It contains the EU Official Journal in pdf format since 1998.
European Court of Justice
This provides a useful guide to the European Court of Justice and the European Court of First Instance and their jurisdictions. It contains the full text of the Courts’ case law since 1997, although some documentation is not available in English. It also contains summaries of pre-1997 cases which are available via a link to the EUR-LEX database on the Europa website.
European Consumer Centre
This website is funded by the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs and the European Commission and provides information on consumer rights within the EU. It is useful if one has a consumer dispute involving a supplier from another European country.
European Court of Human Rights
This website provides free online access to case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the former European Commission on Human Rights.
European Patents Office
This is the website of the European Patent Office Headquarters in Munich.
Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)
Based in Vienna, the FRA helps to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of people living in the EU and has excellent publications on a range of issues of interest to the legal profession.
Institute of European Affairs
The Institute of European Affairs is a policy research institute based in Dublin and it provides information on EU policy developments and analysis of their implications for Ireland.
Irish Centre for European Law
The Irish Centre for European Law is based at Trinity College Dublin. It organises a number of conferences and the papers are available to purchase.
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International
Gateways
AccessToLaw
Links to legal sources worldwide, selected and annotated by the Inner Temple Library, London.
Hieros Gamos
This is a worldwide legal directory maintained by a Texas law firm. It has links to legal websites in 230 countries. It also has a vast array of articles from different countries covering most areas of the law.
Lawlinks
Annotated listing of UK and worldwide links maintained by the
University of Kent law library.
World Legal Information Institute
Managed by Austlii (Australasian Legal Information Institute) this website has links to 686 databases from 86 countries.
Australasia, Canada, USA
Directories
Expert Witness
Law Societies/Bar Associations
Subscription Services
First Law (through Justis)
First Law, through Justis, offers a daily current awareness service and full text judgments of the Superior Courts and decisions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal; also full text Irish statutory instruments.
Irish Times
Two subscription options: text archive from 1996 onwards; digital
archive from 1859 onwards.
Justis
This is an online legal library of Irish, UK and European Law. It includes the Irish Reports and Digests from 1919 to date.
LexisNexis
This website currently has 27 online LexisNexis Butterworths on-line products, including the LexisNexis Professional database (which includes the Irish Reports from 1950 onwards and Irish unreported judgments from 1985 onwards), the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, Irish Conveyancing Precedents, Irish Tax and the All England Law Reports.
Taxfind
Irish Taxation Institute’s database containing the Institute’s publications and the Irish Tax Review.
Westlaw IE
Westlaw IE is the Thomson Round Hall online Irish legal database. It contains the Irish Law Reports Monthly, Employment Law Reports, Irish Current Law Monthly Digest, Irish Current Law Statutes Annotated, the series of consolidated legislation services published by Round Hall and most of the journals published by Round Hall.
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