Lawyers from across Ireland gathered in Belfast for a conference examining the Legal Implications of Brexit. The complexities of unpicking the UK from the EU were unearthed and discussed, including smuggling, extradition, and the impact on human rights protects. (The Attorney General reckons that Brexit would enhance the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.)
A Belfast High Court judge has adjourned the application for a judicial review of the controversial new law criminalising the paying for sex following a last minute intervention by the Northern Ireland Attorney General on behalf of the Office of the NI First and Deputy First Ministers (OFMDFM). Interestingly, as the BBC report notes A barrister representing the [NI Department of Justice] confirmed it was not opposing Ms Lee’s application for a judicial review of the new law, on the basis that an arguable …
If nothing else, Theresa Villiers statement on power-sharing contains some odd language (see the first quote Mick has cited here). The nuances in “…there are inherent weaknesses in a system in which it is very difficult to remove one’s rulers by voting and to choose a viable alternative…” actually jar with the mother-and-apple-pie follow-up about about consistency with power-sharing and inclusivity. A central tenet of democracy is that voting in elections removes ‘rulers’ and replaces them with whoever gets elected …
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland organised a conference yesterday looking at the Church in the Public Square. [Ed – not a new idea.] Two to three hundred people attended: ministers (both clerical and political), laity, as well as representatives from many organisations and faiths. Audio of the three keynote speakers is now available on the PCI website, and I’ll follow-up with a post over on Alan in Belfast in a day or two. In the meantime some snippets that might …
Yesterday was notable for people in the British press taking notice of the Attorney General’s unpopular intervention with his suggestion of an amnesty that isn’t quite an amnesty. David Aaronovitch (pointing out that the Old Bailey trial of John Downey is about to commence on January 14th) had this to say in his column in The Times: There is something odd about an Attorney-General, for whatever motives, not defending the process of justice. Politicians have to make shabby compromises, but …
Tonight’s BBC Panorama programme will detail allegations about the operation of the Military Reaction Force, or MRF, and how it killed unarmed civilians as part of its work up until 1973. The programme has identified ten unarmed civilians it believes were shot by MRF members operating undercover. It also will include a claim that a Ministry of Defence review concluded that the MRF had “no provision for detailed command and control”. As with so much reportage about ‘the past’, they aren’t particularly new …
Here’s Malachi O’Doherty on the core flaws of the Attorney General’s idea of suspending the justice process because its currently being put under unbearable strain: In the first instance, it is a shocking idea. There are still measures in place for restitution for people who suffered, or were robbed, during the Second World War, which ended nearly 70 years ago. Old Nazis are still pursued and jailed; stolen artworks are recovered and efforts are made to return them to their …
Interesting intervention from the Attorney General who calls for an end to any investigations into the troubles related offences before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. As RTE News notes he also highlighted the fact that the post GFA deal effectively buried a huge tranche of evidence of paramilitary murders: He said part of the weapons decommissioning deal was that no forensic evidence was gathered when guns were being put beyond use. He said no forensic evidence can be …
Sort of… After the bluster from various political and media sources over, the “statutorily independent” NI Attorney General, John Larkin’s decision to charge former Secretary of State for Wales, etc, Peter Hain, MP, and his publisher, with contempt of court over remarks in Mr Hain’s autobiography, the BBC has news from the High Court. Former NI Secretary Peter Hain has written to Attorney General John Larkin clarifying remarks he made about a high court judge in his memoirs. He said it …
Conveniently, neither the Northern Ireland First or deputy First Ministers, nor either of their juniors, were available to the NI Assembly on Monday to answer Jim Allister’s pointed question on their continued confidence, or otherwise, in the “statutorily independent” NI Attorney General, John Larkin. [As open and transparent as possible! – Ed] There’s been no such reticence from others. The NI Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, has criticised the cost of the Attorney General’s contempt of court proceedings against the former Secretary of …
Eleven people were shot dead by British soldiers in Ballymurphy in the three days following the introduction of internment without trial on 9th August 1971. Today, more than forty years later, John Larkin, the Northern Ireland Attorney General, has ordered fresh inquests into the deaths. The original inquests returned an open verdict in 1972 but there was no serious investigation into the behaviour of the paratroopers who carried out the killings. In 1998, some of the families of those that were killed began …
The Kingsmills families have had a number of meetings recently in their attempts to get justice for their relatives murdered by the IRA in 1976. They met David Ford who has apparently promised to press for closer cooperation with the RoI government over the matter. Danny Kennedy who has been involved in the campaign said: “Thirty-five years may have elapsed since that dreadful night and much has changed. One thing that has not changed is the determination of the victims’ …
The Northern Ireland Attorney General, John Larkin, has been complaining about his lack of powers of supervision over the Public Prosecution Service since he was appointed in May 2010. It was, he said at the time, “something that should be urgently looked at”. The NI Justice Minister, David Ford, responded on 7 June 2010 that he intended “to start discussions with the First Minister and deputy First Minister on whether the relationship the law sets down between the new Attorney General and …
Nominated as the new Northern Ireland Attorney General in November 2008, John Larkin was finally appointed today. UTV has his initial “grateful” comments. But the BBC notes that he’s already noticed that something’s missing… Unlike his direct rule predecessor, Mr Larkin will not have any powers of supervision over the Public Prosecution Service. “It’s something that should be urgently looked at I think,” Mr Larkin said. “The decisions about unduly lenient sentences, about other forms of statutory obligation, which were taken by the attorney …
