Author Archives: Edward McGarr
Law Professors’ blogs
Should law professors blog? Certainly, subject to a prior, professional equipment, check:generally, all sentient, carbon-based lifeforms are qualified. Professors, having surveyed your premises (in space, not in logic) and discovered the absence of this, go ahead. (“this”, refers to the first item on the list)
Medical Negligence – Obstetrics
The practice of obstetrics is somewhat different to other medical specialities in that the “patients”, the mother and baby, are healthy when they come under the care of the specialist. (This may not be strictly accurate; it is estimated that about 1% of babies have some form of defect). Nevertheless, the specialist is answerable for any error of medical management in the care of one or both of the patients. See here. There is a strong body of opinion that […]
Personal Injury Claims Part 2
Personal Injury Claims Part 1 is available. Should Ireland adopt the New Zealand system? Perhaps. It has been seriously mooted in relation to medical negligence claims. No Irish Government has ever hinted at the possible adoption of the full scheme. Should Ireland avoid such a system? Possibly. The total number of injuries and illnesses, sustained at work, for 2003 was 100,700. Most of these involved absences from work for 3 days or less. Any scheme would mean that these people […]
Naming & Shaming
The City of Derry wants to change its name. Actually the Derry City Council wants to change the name of the city, but the courts have ruled that they canât do that because Charles II of England changed the name of the city from Derry to Londonderry by charter in 1652. (Note that the Council had changed its own name). The court went on to advance a questionable proposition; that the name could be changed by a change in the […]
The Conveyancing Committee
The Conveyancing Committee is comprised of working solicitor members (working in private practice) brought together by the Law Society of Ireland to give guidance, and set procedures, in the resolution of questions that may arise in conveyancing transactions. Conveyancing is what lawyers do when transferring or mortgaging land or buildings. The members are unpaid for their work. They are, of necessity, deeply involved in conveyancing practice and, of course, earn their living from doing so. They tend not to belong […]
The Richmond Hospital
The Richmond Hospital in North Brunswick St. has a new phase of life as a District Court building. It’s a fine two story building of red brick and terracotta with two wings on either side of a fine staircase to the entrance. Court 52 is clearly occupying what was once a hospital ward; broad and well lit, with gracious ceiling height in proportion to the size of the space. The structure inspires confidence in its developers, the medical men (and […]
Let Them Eat Cake
Before 200 asylum seekers in direct provision accommodation in Limerick/Clare commenced a hunger strike (Irish Times 30/1/07) did the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform receive any prior inkling of their complaints? The complaints are, inter alia; a) In meals the âcustomersâ? find hair strands; pieces of broken plastic and particles of shells. b) One toilet roll a week is allocated. Experience, shows this is inadequate. c) Lack of cleanliness This is a no-brainer. If it were a prison, […]
French Big Brother awards
This posting is a blatant act of plagiarism. It is also a paean to the French Big Brother awards 2006 and French politicians, whose mission seems to include bringing laughter to the world, or the francophone section of it in any event, surely with the best of intentions. The awards, as the title suggests, goes to the persons promoting acts or policies generally familiar to the readers of Orwellâs â1984â?. Nicholas Sarkozy was disqualified from admission to the awards this […]
The Irish ePassport
We have commented previously on the ePassport and its lack of security. See the attached opinion of the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party on RFID tags in passports and its recommendations for steps to precede the introduction of the chipped passports. We cannot see that Ireland took any notice of the Working Party’s recommendations, not to speak of, inter alia, the concerns of Civil Liberties groups in the USA and Canada. For example, what State agencies, besides the […]
Personal Injury Claims – Part 1
What do people mean when they refer to âPersonal Injuryâ? claims? It is, firstly and obviously, a reference to the consequences of an event; somebody has been injured. In addition, following the injury there is an allegation that somebody else has caused the injury and is answerable in law for that. Its current major significance is the consideration of the claim as an administrative problem. It also expresses a particular view of the âproblemâ?; administratively, the problem could be the […]