BAILII (the British and Irish Legal Information Institute) provides the most comprehensive set of British and Irish primary legal materials freely available online. Its Irish case law databases include the following decisions: Supreme Court of Ireland 1998 onwards; Irish Court of Criminal Appeal 2004 onwards; Irish Court of Appeal 2014 onwards; High Court of Ireland 1997 onwards; landmark decisions from earlier years; Irish Competition Authority 1991 onwards; Irish Information Commissioner 1998 onwards; and Irish Data Protection Commission case studies 2005 onwards. The legislation databases comprise Irish Legislation and Statutory Instruments 1922 onwards. Also included are Irish Law Reform Commission Papers and Reports 1976 onwards and Irish Treaty Series 1930 onwards.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for enforcing consumer protection and competition law in Ireland. It was formed on 31 October 2014 by the amalgamation of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency. The site’s Enforcement section includes closed investigations, civil and criminal court cases, legislation and related guidance. Other site content includes publications and press notices.

The Constitution of Ireland (1937) is provided here on the web site of the Irish Government. This is the most recently prepared version of the popular edition of the Constitution, dated January 2020.There are also annotated links to all enacted amendments effected between 1937 and January 2020.

The Courts Service was established in 1999 under the Courts Service Act 1998. Its web site provides information on the Irish courts system, including court forms, rules, practice directions, judgments, law terms, a legal diary, press releases, annual reports and legal links. The site includes judgments of the Supreme Court 2001 onwards and determinations 2015 onwards, the Court of Criminal Appeal and the High Court 2004 onwards, and the Court of Appeal 2014 onwards, as well as judgments of the Courts-Martial Appeal Court, the Central Criminal Court, the Circuit Court and of the District Court in childcare cases.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the national independent authority in Ireland responsible for upholding the right of individuals in the EU to have their personal data protected. It is also the Irish supervisory authority responsible for monitoring the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and has functions and powers related to other regulatory frameworks such as the Irish ePrivacy Regulations (2011) and the Law Enforcement Directive. The site includes a brief summary of the main data protection legislative frameworks. It has information on individuals’ rights and organisations’ responsibilities and guidance on how these rights and principles apply in practice. The Law section of the site includes relevant legislation and judgments.

The wide ranging responsibilities of Ireland’s Department of Justice and Equality include crime; the Garda Síochána (police force) and policing; prisons and probation; legislation and law reform; security; courts policy and legal services; children and family; and equality and integration. Information on the site includes links to relevant legislation and to a range of publications, including annual reports and press releases.

The Electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) site includes the Acts of the Oireachtas 1922 onwards, Statutory Instruments 1922 onwards, most of the pre-1922 legislation which is still in force, and the Constitution of Ireland. Amendments to legislation are also included. The FAQs section of the site has helpful information on tracking amendments. There are links under the “External Resources” tab to Bills, the Official Gazette, Revised Acts and other legislation resources.

Eugene F. Collins is a Dublin-based law firm. The site’s Publications section (under the “What We Do” tab) has commentary on changes in case law and legislation, arranged under subject headings such as banking, employment, immigration, insurance, intellectual property, and property and construction.

This site is maintained by the Freedom of Information Central Policy Unit in Ireland’s Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Regulations and orders made under both the 1997 and the 2014 Freedom of Information Acts are listed and reproduced on the site. There is a link to the 2014 Act on the site’s home page, plus information, manuals, guidance notices, a code of practice, and other resources relevant to the Act.

Gov.ie is a central portal site for online government services and information in Ireland. Links to central government departments, agencies and local authorities are provided under the “Departments” heading. Other options accessible from the home page include several broad subject categories, notably Justice, which has links to various court services, legislation and court judgments.

This overview of Irish law was written by Dr Darius Whelan, a lecturer in law at University College, Cork. Archive versions published in 2001 and June 2005 are also available. It covers the development of the legal system in the Republic of Ireland and the Irish Constitution of 1937 and describes online sources for primary and secondary legislation, courts and case law, government departments, the legal professions and university law departments. It also includes bibliographic details of significant books and journals.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA), which was established in 1989, is the state sponsored body in Ireland with responsibility for securing safety, health and welfare at work. Its site includes a Legislation section, which lists Irish Health and Safety Acts and Regulations (with some links to full text). Amendments to legislation are listed. It also features (under Inspections, which can be found via the Topics tab) details of prosecutions from 2005-2018. Other information includes codes of practice, statistics, forms, annual reports and press releases. The majority of publications are free and can be downloaded.

The Oireachtas is the national parliament of the Republic of Ireland, consisting of the President of Ireland and the two houses, the Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives) and the Seanad Éireann (Senate). Publications on the site include Dáil Debates 1919 onwards, Seanad Debates 1922 onwards, selected Committee Debates 1924 onwards, Bills (as published at each stage) and Explanatory Memoranda 1997 onwards, and Acts of the Oireachtas (in both Irish and English) 1922 onwards.

Iris Oifigiúil is the Irish State gazette, the official medium for the publication of governmental, statutory and other notices. These include proclamations, announcements of Statutory Instruments made, and notices of appointment of receivers to companies. Publication is twice weekly, with occasional supplements throughout the year, and the online archive is 2002 onwards.

Developments in Irish law, including news of forthcoming events in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, are the subject of this blog by Darius Whelan of University College Cork Law Faculty.

The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) is responsible for carrying out the administrative functions of the Minister for Justice and Equality in relation to asylum, immigration (including visas) and citizenship matters in the Republic of Ireland. The site includes forms, information leaflets and background notes on immigration and asylum policy. The Legislation section (under “About Us”) includes the texts of relevant Acts and Statutory Instruments.

IRLII (the Irish Legal Information Initiative) was established in 2001 by University College Cork Law Faculty to complement its contribution to BAILII by providing a number of additional services. The index of cases is browsable by court and year, by subject, and by leading cases. Case coverage (of the Irish Supreme Court, High Court and Court of Criminal Appeal) is from 1997 to 2016 or 2017, plus some earlier decisions. Legislation content comprises Irish Statutes 1999-2015 and Statutory Instruments 2002-2015, and there is also a “Statutes & Related SIs” section which provides lists of SIs made under statutes with links to full text of SIs where available. Note that no part of the site appears to have been updated since early 2017.

The Law Reform Commission is an independent statutory body established in 1975 to keep the law of Ireland under review and make recommendations for its reform. The site has details of both current and completed projects. All publications since its inception are available, including reports, consultation papers and annual reports. Other content includes a link to information on the Legislation Directory, an index tracking changes to primary legislation from the pre and post 1922 periods and to secondary legislation from 1985 onwards, which is maintained by the Commission. A Classified List of In-Force Legislation under 36 subject headings (which is searchable and linked to full text on eISB) is available on the site as well as alphabetical and chronological lists of Revised Acts (administrative consolidations of over 350 Acts showing all amendments and changes).

This site is run by IRLII (the Irish Legal Information Initiative) at the University College Cork Faculty of Law, having begun life as a section of the IRLII site. It contains an index of academic articles published in 32 Irish legal periodicals 1997 onwards, searchable by author, title and keyword. Links are provided to articles available online if the copyright holder has given consent. Note that, as is the case with the main IRLII site, there has been no further updating of this site since 2017.

The Attorney General is Ireland’s chief law officer. The site includes information on the work of the Office of the Attorney General itself and of two other constituent parts, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, as well as a link to the electronic Irish Statute Book which the Office produces. Publications and reports available in full text include annual reports 2001 onwards.

The Office of the Ombudsman is responsible for dealing with complaints about the administrative actions of government departments, local authorities, the Health Service Executive, and other public bodies in Ireland. “About Us” includes information, with links, on the Ombudsman Act 1980 (under which it was set up), amending Acts and other relevant legislation. Other sections provide information on how to make a complaint, press releases, forms and guidance. Annual reports and investigation reports are also available, as is an Ombudsman’s Casebook which has summaries of recent complaints dealt with.

The Redress Board was set up under the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 to make fair and reasonable awards to persons who, as children, were abused while resident in Irish industrial schools, reformatories and other institutions subject to state regulation or inspection. (Note that the Board no longer has the power to accept new applications.) Information on the site includes newsletters, annual reports, details of application and hearing procedures, and FAQs. The 2002 Act, plus Amendments and Regulations are available to download, as is the Compensation Advisory Committee’s 2002 report Towards Redress and Recovery (“the Ryan Report”).

Revenue – more formally the Office of the Revenue Commissioners – is the Irish government agency responsible for customs, excise, taxation and related matters. The Tax Professionals section of the site has links to tax briefings, codes of practice, tax treaties and legislation.

The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in all constitutional and civil matters in Ireland, and also exercises a limited jurisdiction in criminal matters in appeals from the Court of Criminal Appeal. Besides judgments 2001 onwards (also accessible on the Courts Service of Ireland site), its web site provides information on the membership, composition and jurisdiction of the Court, information on the Irish legal system and courts generally,  and the text of the Constitution of Ireland 1937 (as amended).

The Irish Times is regarded as Ireland’s newspaper of record. Site content accessible by non-subscribers includes the top stories of the newspaper’s current issue and, via the search box, headlines and brief abstracts of articles from 1996 onwards. A Digital Archive of over 150 years is available to subscribers.

This is the Irish section of Delia Venables’ web site. It provides annotated links to Irish legal sites and resources including the sites of solicitors, barristers and publishers.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent statutory body which performs a number of functions in relation to workplace relations and employment rights in Ireland. These include advisory, conciliation, mediation, adjudication and inspection services. It was established on 1 October 2015, assuming the roles and functions previously carried out by several other bodies including the National Employment Rights Authority and the Labour Relations Commission. Site content includes on a single searchable database the decisions and determinations of the WRC 2015 onwards, the Labour Court October 1986 onwards, the Equality Tribunal 1996 onwards, and the Employment Appeals Tribunal 2007 onwards.