The attorney general is considering the implications of a Supreme Court ruling which found that a law stopping the payment of the State’s old age pension to prisoners is unconstitutional.

Legislation needs to be urgently enacted to address mounting difficulties with securing access to justice in the civil courts, particularly in the context of complex commercial litigation, the Supreme Court has said.

The State and Referendum Commission are entitled to their legal costs, estimated at more than €200,000, of successfully opposing two separate bids to challenge the abortion referendum result, the President of the High Court has ruled.

Supreme Court judge Frank Clarke is to be appointed chief justice after the Cabinet signed off on his nomination in its last meeting before the summer recess.

Barrister Sean Guerin has asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal against Alan Shatter's successful challenge to sections of his report concerning the former Justice Minister's handling of complaints of Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe.

Relations between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have ‘plummeted’ amid accusations of breaches of faith between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin over the Máire Whelan affair.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has rejected claims that President Michael D Higgins was pushed to rush the promotion of the former attorney general to the Court of Appeal, as rows erupted in the Dáil over the move.

Micheál Martin has made a surprising and highly personal attack on Máire Whelan in the Dáil, claiming she is no match to some previous judicial appointments.

The decision could have major implications for other asylum seekers.

An appeal by a man against his conviction for the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan in a case of mistaken identity has been dismissed by a six to one majority in the Supreme Court.

Northern Ireland-registered vessels have no legal entitlement to fish for mussel seed in the State’s territorial waters, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Dr Mary Pat O’Donnell, wife of retired solicitor Brian O’Donnell, is entitled to argue she has a right of residence at Gorse Hill in Killiney, Co Dublin, which the family was ordered to vacate, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A Limerick man who successfully appealed against his conviction for the murder of his partner yesterday pleaded guilty to her manslaughter.

The issuing of €31bn promissory notes in favour of Anglo Irish Bank and other financial institutions by the minister for finance in 2010, Brian Lenihan, involved an unconstitutional allocation of public money without a Dáil vote, lawyers for Independent TD Joan Collins told the Supreme Court.

A total recount of votes cast in the May 2014 local elections for the Listowel electoral area of North Kerry has been ordered by the Supreme Court.

A Supreme Court judge has said it is “dispiriting”, despite difficulties with the defence of provocation in Irish law being identified several times over at least 15 years, there has been no “legislative response”.

A five-judge Supreme Court has unanimously rejected arguments by the National Assets Management Agency that it is not a public authority subject to freedom of environmental information requests.

A five-year battle by Nama to prevent details of its loans and properties being provided under environmental information law ended in defeat at the Supreme Court yesterday.

A seven-judge Supreme Court has unanimously refused to order a rerunning of the 2012 Children’s Referendum after finding a Dublin woman had failed to prove an unconstititional government information campaign “materially affected” the yes outcome.

The Supreme Court this week made a ruling that impacts hugely on evidence gathering by gardaí. Cormac O’Keeffe reports on a landmark decision 

New legislation is needed to recognise foreign divorces after the Supreme Court found that Irish law does not recognise their validity in certain circumstances.

The genetic mother of twins born to a surrogate has lost her legal battle to be declared the children’s legal mother on their birth certificate.

A man who raped a woman as she was drying her hands in a public toilet has lost an appeal against his conviction.

The wife and children of businessman Philip Lynch are entitled to a further hearing to determine whether AIB is entitled to €26m judgment orders against them over an unpaid development loan, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The lengthy legal battle between British fashion company Karen Millen and Dunnes Stores over the copying of designs has concluded with the dismissal by the Supreme Court of Dunnes’ appeal in the case.

A Seanad committee has won an appeal against a High Court ruling which had found in favour of former senator Ivor Callely over his expenses.

The Supreme Court has described as “understated” a finding that businessman Philip Lynch gave “hopelessly confused and unreliable” evidence concerning the circumstances leading to a €25m loan being issued to buy development lands in Waterford.

Gang figure Brian Rattigan has applied for a Supreme Court appeal against his conviction for the murder of Declan Gavin outside an Abrakebabra takeaway in Dublin more than 12 years ago.

Drumshanbo in Leitrim may seem “a tidy, quiet, and even sleepy place” but “certainly was not such” around 3.30am one Sunday in September when a Garda claimed to find several people drinking in Monica’s pub, sparking off events ultimately leading to his dismissal, a Supreme Court judge said yesterday as he overturned that dismissal.

A man who caused the deaths of three people after driving on the wrong side of the road is facing an increase on his four-year term after an appeal by the DPP.

A retired Central Bank administrator who was jailed for the possession of hundreds of thousands of child porn images and videos has walked free from court after his conviction was quashed because of a misdated warrant.

The Government’s campaign in the children’s referendum was in “clear disregard” of the limits on what the State may do and was neither fair, equal, impartial nor neutral, the Supreme Court has ruled.

IT WOULD have been hard-hearted not to have felt at least some sympathy for Seán Quinn if you had watched him shed tears on the stage of the protest rally at Ballyconnell in County Cavan last Sunday.

A senior judge has questioned why the son of bankrupt billionaire Sean Quinn should be freed from jail.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has today dismissed three men's appeals against their convictions for membership of the IRA.

A Limerick taxi driver who raped a young woman after agreeing to driver her home from a nightclub has had his seven year sentence increased following a successful appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Ian Bailey walked free from the Supreme Court yesterday after the five-judge court ruled he cannot be extradited to France in connection with the murder of filmmaker Sophie Toscan Du Plantier.

THE Supreme Court has reserved judgment on Ian Bailey’s challenge to his extradition to France in connection with the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

PROPERTY developers Michael and John O’Flynn used a “highly artificial” tax avoidance scheme 20 years ago to avoid paying tax on almost £600,000 in dividends, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The Court of Criminal appeal has dismissed the DPP's bid to increase the 10- year prison sentence imposed on a psychiatric patient who admitted stabbing two health workers in a 'frenzied' attack at a hospital in Limerick.

A former Marist brother and primary school teacher has begun an appeal against his conviction for sexually abusing four young boys at a Sligo school over 40 years ago.

A former garda appealing against his conviction for perverting the course of justice has had his bail application rejected at the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgement in the State’s appeal against the undue leniency of an eight-year sentence handed down to a Dublin man who viciously raped and threatened to kill a woman he dragged from a busy public road.

A Brazilian man who was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing his flatmate more than 40 times after an argument over her relationships with other men has failed in an appeal against his conviction.