Category: Irish Society

Judge dread

| 6 Comments
| Irish Society, judges, Judicial Appointments, Open Justice, The Rule of Law

Judge Dredd via WikipediaGrowing up, I loved the comic 2000AD, and one of its leading characters was Judge Dredd (pictured left). We never saw underneath his helmet’s visor because – with his catchphrase “I am the law” (echoed by Lord Thurlow LC in The Madness of King George) – he represents the impartiality and facelessness of justice. This is why more traditional representations of lady justice show her wearing a blindfold – as in the statute overlooking upper castle yard in Dublin Castle: the blindfold represents objectivity and impartiality. Hence, under Article 34.5.1 of the Constitution, judges make a declaration that they will execute their functions “without fear or favour, affection or ill-will towards any man”. This judicial impartiality, abjuring both preference and malice, is the cornerstone of the rule of law – it requires and allows both that questions of legal right and liability to be resolved by application of the law and not by the exercise of discretion, and that the laws of the land should apply equally to all: be you never so high, the law is above you. But, as the text of judicial oath expresses, to be able to decide without favour, judges must be free to decide without fear – that is, without the dread in the title to this post.…

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Do clothes maketh the man?

| 4 Comments
| Freedom of Expression, Irish Society, Politics

According to the Adages of Erasmus, ‘vestes virum facit‘, which is often rendered in English as ‘clothes maketh the man’. Two different stories in today’s Irish Times brought this adage to mind. In the first, a picture tells a thousand words:

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan in l'Assemblé National

The photo is by Gonzalo Fuentes via Reuters and Yahoo. It shows French deputy Nicolas Dupont-Aignan covering his face with a scarf in the colours of the French flag to protest at the denial of speaking time to independent deputies during a debate about Libya at l’Assemblée Nationale in Paris yesterday. It demonstrates that what deputies wear in parliament can be as important as what they say. Sometimes, the sartorial expression is obvious, as where a slogan on a t-shirt makes the point. Sometimes, it’s a little more subtle, but all the more effective, as the photo above of Dupont-Aignan demonstrates. And sometimes, even a deputy’s normal everyday wear makes the point: in Ireland, Mick Wallace TD habitually wears a casual pink shirt. Like some other independent TDs, he dresses casually to make a point against unnecessary conformity and stuffiness; and he dresses in pink as “a challenge to the sad macho element in Irish society”.…

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The empty chair and the moratorium: broacasters’ duties of fairness – II

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| Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Election 2011, Freedom of Expression, Irish Society

The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP facebook imageI enjoy political debate; and I particularly enjoy political debates on television between political party leaders. I will therefore be a happy spectator tomorrow night when TV3 host the first such leaders’ debate of the current election campaign. But, as things now stand, Enda Kenny, the leader of Fine Gael, the party which is leading in all of the polls, will not participate. One of the consequences of his refusal to do is that he has made the broadcaster part of the story, and not simply the means by which the political story reaches us, the viewing public. (It’s not the only example of the broadcaster being the story this week: there was a spat between Newstalk and RTÉ; and there were calls for a deputy leaders’ debate and a women’s debate). As a general rule, it’s not a good thing when the broadcaster becomes part of the story; it means something has gone awry with the normal functioning of the political process. When that happens, people often reach for their lawyers. Last week, a leading member of Kenny’s party suggested that having the debate without Kenny (perhaps with an empty chair to symbolize his absence) would breach TV3’s statutory duty of impartiality.…

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The empty chair and the moratorium: broacasters’ duties of fairness – I

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| advertising, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Election 2011, Freedom of Expression, Irish Society

Empty chair in BBC tv studio, via the BBC websiteDuring the course of the next month or so, we are going to hear a lot about the duty of broadcasters to be balanced, fair, objective, and impartial, in current affairs matters. In fact, TV3 have twice now sought to determine exactly what that duty means. First, earlier this month, TV3 queried whether this duty requires a moratorium on political coverage the day prior to polling and on election day. Then, last Thursday night, on Tonight with Vincent Browne, Browne suggested that if Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny did not accept TV3’s invitation to participate in an election debate with other party leaders, TV3 would go ahead with the debate with an empty chair where Kenny should have been; and Browne simply rebuffed Fine Gael’s Alan Shatter’s objection that the empty chair would breach TV3’s duty of impartiality. Given how supine Irish broadcasters have been in the past about the scope and limitations of this duty, I’m delighted to see TV3 take such a robust interpretation, and I look forward to further examples during the general election. In the meantime, in this post, I want to look at the fairness issues raised by the moratorium; in a future post I will look at those raised by the empty chair.…

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It’s long past time to abolish the Censorship of Publications Board

| 3 Comments
| Censorship, Irish Society

Cover of Huxley 'Point Counter Point' via WikipediaLast month on this site, I posed the question: why do we need a Censorship of Publications Board? It was a rhetorical question; in my view, we don’t need one at all.

The Censorship of Publications Board was established by section 3 of the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929 (also here), with the power (under section 6 (also here)) to prohibit the sale of any book which

… is indecent or obscene or advocates the unnatural prevention of conception or the procurement of abortion or miscarriage or the use of any method, treatment or appliance for the purpose of such prevention or such procurement …

Its procedures are governed by the Censorship of Publications Regulations, 1980 (SI No 292 of 1980), and the Department of Justice website contains the Register of Prohibited Publications of December 2009 (here: pdf). A piece by John Byrne in today’s Irish Times (with added links) not only reinforces my view that we no longer have need for such paternalism, but also gives grounds for optimism that we will soon no longer be subject to it:

What a shocker: no more books to ban

After 80 years of censorship from a board once internationally notorious for its prurience, the last remaining book to be banned in Ireland on the grounds of obscenity will have its prohibition lifted this year, …

On May 9th, 1930, a year after the passing of the initial Censorship of Publications Act, [Aldous] Huxley’s novel [Point Counter Point, above left] became the Act’s first casualty.

…

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Santa, Scrooge, and overactive ATMs

| 13 Comments
| Irish Society, Mistaken payments, Restitution

Scrooge and Santa graphic novel coverYesterday, as Scrooge announced a take-away budget, Santa produced give-away bank machines. Bank of Ireland experienced “an unforeseen technical issue” with its computers. This meant that some of its customers were able to make ATM withdrawals of amounts greater than their available funds or credit. However, the bank said that all money withdrawn by customers in excess of their balances yesterday will have to be repaid, and that ATMs are working normally now.

The bank’s first port of call to enforce their repayments will be the terms and conditions of the contracts they have with their customers. For example, clause 3.2 and clause 10 of the Terms & Conditions relating to Personal Current Accounts in the Standard Current Account Terms & Conditions (PDF) allow the bank to recover unauthorised overdrafts incurred “without the bank’s prior written agreement”; and clause 2.9 of the Terms and Conditions of Use relating to ATM Cards and Laser Cards in the same Standard Terms and Conditions permits the bank to restore an account to the state it would have been in had “an incorrectly executed transation not taken place”. However, reliance on these terms and conditions may be displaced if the term is unfair having regard to the European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations, 1995 (SI No 27 of 1995), or if a strict interpretation of the relevant terms excluded their applicability (for example, the argument might run that the terms and conditions apply to the ordinary running of the account and not to these kinds of extraordinary circumstances where the bank simply allowed the transactions to go ahead with the risk that some customers at least would not have the relevant available funds).…

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Irish higher education: three further thoughts

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| Irish Society, Universities

NUIG quad, via NUIG websiteBy way of a brief update on my two recent posts about third level policy, a story in yesterday’s papers caught my eye. First, a report in the Irish Times:

Less than 15% in some Dublin areas going to college

Less than 15 per cent of Leaving Cert students in some poorer areas of Dublin are progressing to third level, according to the 2010 Irish Times feeder school list published today. … In stark contrast, most schools in south Dublin have a progression rate of 100 per cent; every one of their students who sat the Leaving Cert this year has progressed to third level.

The new figures come amid renewed controversy about the impact of the abolition of third-level fees in 1995 and as students face increased registration charges in next month’s budget. The list appears to show that “free fees” have have had only a marginal impact in boosting participation levels in poorer areas. …

The Irish Times also publishes a separate list focusing on progression rates to high-points courses, mostly in the university sector. This list is dominated by feepaying schools. …

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate either list on the Irish Times website. The Irish Independent has a similar story:

Parents buying school success, figures reveal

More than 90pc of students who sat the Leaving Cert in fee-paying or grind schools went on to higher education, figures compiled by the Irish Independent reveal.

…

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Higher education policy: evidence from Ireland and Europe

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| Irish Society, Universities

ESRI logo, via the ESRI websitePicking up where I left off with yesterday’s post about the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Higher Education Policy Conference, Professor David Raffe, Director of the Centre for Educational Sociology in the University of Edinburgh spoke on “Higher education policies across the UK since devolution”, and his paper put the higher education policy issues into context. In particular, he demonstrates not only the challenges being faced by higher education at present but also the diversity of available policy responses even in the UK. I’m going to summarize those aspects of his paper which are relevant to Irish circumstances and leave to one side his application of those elements to devolution in the UK [my occasional comments about the Irish position are in parentheses], and I will use his paper to put the contribution of Dr Selina McCoy in context.…

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