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On 07 April 2017, Ms. Justice Irvine delivered judgment in respect of an appeal brought by Sophie Everard, the mother of Lisa Everard, arising out of the dismissal of her daughter’s claim by the High Court on 24 September 2015.

The General Scheme of Data Protection Bill 2017 (the “Bill”) has been published by the Department of Justice. The purpose of the Bill is to give effect to the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which comes into force on 25 May 2018. The Bill also transposes the Law Enforcement Directive (2016/680) (the “Regulation”) into domestic law.

A recent High Court case has brought about a change in the status quo involving personal insolvency arrangements and separated spouses.

The Supreme Court has delivered a decision in Hickey v McGowan [2017] IESC 6 which has important consequences for business and commercial entities dealing with litigation arising from the acts of their employees.

The Courts have delivered judgment in two important cases which involve the concept of parliamentary privilege. At its most basic, that principle means that in general the Courts do not have a role in – and are not permitted to –scrutinise comments made in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Government recently published new legislation on 13 January 2017, in the form of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017, which for the first time empowers the Courts to make consensual and non-consensual Periodic Payment Orders (PPOs) to compensate injured parties in cases of catastrophic injury where long term permanent care is required.