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Abstract:
The idea of participation is becoming increasingly important in international human rights law and recent political and constitutional theory. There is an emerging international law right of minorities to participate in public life. There are many problems though with putting this right into practice. It is not enough to offer formal opportunities for representation or even to facilitate more participatory processes. This article explores how participation is more easily proclaimed than practised by examining the position of one ethnic minority, Travellers, in a liberal democracy, Ireland. While there are many formal opportunities for participation, these do not necessarily result in effective participation on a basis of equality, and may still result in decisions which fail to consider the Traveller culture and identity. Travellers still suffer from an imbalance of power in these arrangements. There are hopeful avenues to pursue in improving participation, the role of civil society and the use of a dialogue between non-governmental organisations and international organisations to put pressure on a national government, including special representation to offset the disadvantages of traditional representative democracy and emphasising the role of special parliamentary bodies; and the need to address the politics of recognition so as to strengthen the hand of disadvantaged groups such as Travellers.

Law, Minorities, Democracy, Human Rights

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to examine the promotion of democracy through human rights law. The focus will be on the possibilities for using the European Convention on Human Rights to promote participatory democracy. The author argues that the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Court is beginning to recognise some participatory measures such as the requirement of consultation, notably under Article 8 of the Convention.

Human rights, democracy, participation

Abstract:
The recent adoption of the UK Human Rights Bill offers the possibility for many developments in the UK legal system. At the centre of the change stand the new system for the protection of civil rights, and the re-drawn relations between the judiciary and the other branches of Government; combined these features raise the spectre of judicial activism. The Human Rights Act appears to resolve the division of responsibilities between the judges and the political branches in a manner which is deferential to the traditional notions of parliamentary sovereignty, following the example of New Zealand. However such textual confines are potentially treacherous if a court's conception of civil rights and constitutionalism leads it to embrace an activist approach. This article explores three foreign examples of judicial activism straining at the textual limits.

Judicial activism, constitutional interpretation, human rights, comparative law

Abstract:
Following decades in which the absence of immigration allowed Governments to claim there was no problem of racism in Ireland, the 1990s saw Ireland adopt new equality measures to combat racism. Whilst these measures are important and even innovative, paradoxically they are accompanied by policy initiatives which indicate the equality agenda is still very much a controversial one and possibly even in retreat. More radical reforms are needed than merely tinkering with the Equality laws.

Equality, Discrimination, Racism, Racial Discrimination, Ireland

Abstract:
Theoretical justifications of human rights have been troubled by many criticisms and objections. It has been objected that the source of human rights is unclear as is the meaning attached to human rights. Yet today many human rights have been adopted in positive law. Law students today need to learn about this positive law of human rights and may consider that those debates in human rights theory are pointless.

This article examines the extent to which the positive law of human rights answers these questions satisfactorily. It concludes that positive law offers several important answers to these criticisms, but suggests they cannot replace the need for a normative justification. The article concludes that approaches which integrate theory and positive law are fruitful avenues of inquiry.

Human Rights, Legal Theory, Jurisprudence, Philosophy of Law

Abstract:
In this article I argue that an accommodationist approach to Church-State relations provides the most appropriate interpretation of the Irish Constitution. This accommodationist interpretation is however incompatible with Ireland's system of almost exclusively denominational education, in which denominational schools of all the Churches are funded.

constitutional law, religion, education

Abstract:
This paper examines the link made on occasion between the concept of dignity and substantive equality; it is further noted that dignity can have very different meanings in different contexts. While the notion of dignity does not often play a substantive role in the resolution of decisions, sometimes the underlying understanding of dignity does matter. However, in all cases, judges should avoid the temptation to rely on unarticulated value judgments or subjective notions of dignity. When judges make reference to dignity, they should articulate the values underpinning their conception of it.

Abstract:
This paper examines the link made on occasion between the concept of dignity and substantive equality; it is further noted that dignity can have very different meanings in different contexts. While the notion of dignity does not often play a substantive role in the resolution of decisions, sometimes the underlying understanding of dignity does matter. However, in all cases, judges should avoid the temptation to rely on unarticulated value judgments or subjective notions of dignity. When judges make reference to dignity, they should articulate the values underpinning their conception of it.

equality, dignity, constitutional law

Abstract:
This reviews Alison Young's "Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Human Rights Act", drawing attention to the book's detailed treatment of the theory of parliamentary sovereignty and the book's discussion of the perennial issue of balancing human rights and democracy.

human rights, parliamentary sovereignty

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This paper examines the role of the United Kingdom in the process of drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); and proceeds to discuss the impact the UDHR has had on UK law, politics and society.

human rights, United Kingdom, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Abstract:
The European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") has a distinguished track record. Established under the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 ("ECHR"), it was the world's first international human rights court. It decides thousands of cases every year, and its opinions are cited world-wide. For most of its history, the Court's jurisprudence on equality was uninspiring, as it was based on a formal conception of equality. In recent years, however, the ECtHR has begun to give equality more substantive content.

Equality, discrimination, Roma, Education

Abstract:
This paper addresses the question of how far the European Convention on Human Rights can be used to promote social and economic rights. The purpose of this paper is to examine just how far the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights can be pushed in the protection of social and economic rights. It looks at the direct or indirect protection offered to such social and economic rights as the right to a healthy environment, the right to earn a livelihood and the right to health care.

human rights, social rights, economic rights, European Convention on Human Rights, socio-economic rights, social and economic rights

Abstract:
Article 14 ECHR has often been derided as a Cinderella provision, but during the last few years, this has started to change. This article examines how Article 14 has developed, and may live up to its potential as a powerful non-discrimination principle. The case law developments in relation to the "ambit" requirement in Article 14, the development of indirect discrimination case law, and the approval of positive action, all point to a more substantive conception of equality, which offers protection to disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

substantive equality, European Convention on Human Rights, discrimination

Abstract:
This case note discusses the case of Baczkowski v. Poland in the European Court of Human Rights. The Court ruled that, where an elected mayor makes comments disapproving of homosexuality, and officials subsequently ban a Gay Pride march, then courts may be able to infer that the ban was discriminatory under Article 14 ECHR.

equality, discrimination, human rights, sexual orientation, freedom of assembly

Abstract:
This paper examines the approach of the Irish courts to social and economic rights, and proposes using the equality doctrine to provide indirect protection for these rights. The papers draws on comparative material from Canada, South Africa, the US and the European convention on Human Rights to see how an equality doctrine might be used to protect social and economic rights.

Abstract:
Human rights law proclaims that all persons are the same, and have the same rights. Yet this revolutionary claim, which has overturned political regimes and confounded conventions, has itself been criticised. The criticisms have often come from a non-legal disciplinary background - anthropology, philosophy, sociology or others. Sceptics, postmodernists, feminists, cultural relativists and multiculturalists argue that this universalist view is too simple, or even invidious and oppressive and should be rejected. This chapter explores the universalist pretensions of human rights, the criticisms of this universalism, the legal modification of the simple universalist claim and finally discusses a proposal to resolve some of the tensions between these views.

Abstract:
There are two major public policy objectives in Northern Ireland. One is the equality agenda designed to deliver the promise in the Good Friday Agreement of equality and parity of esteem for the two main communities and for members of other social and ethnic groups. The other is the Shared Future agenda designed to foster integration and good relations between the two main communities and between them and minorities.

The official position is that these two policy objectives are mutually consistent and complementary and can be pursued with equal commitment. The reality is rather less straightforward. There are in practice two different bureaucratic systems operating to two different models of implementation.

Equality, Good Relations, Integration

Abstract:
Critically discusses the approach of the Northern Irish Court of Appeal to direct discrimination in a case where a hotel banned Traveller functions.

discrimination, equality

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This chapter explores the role of xenophobia and racism in Ireland.

Abstract:
This paper argues for introducing an element of electoral legitimacy into the process for selecting judges.

Abstract:
This entry discusses the evolution of Natural Law theory.

Abstract:
This article argues that judges make use of political morality when deciding constitutional cases. In doing this they often draw out the implications of political decisions already made by politicians and the people, though sometimes arriving at decisions which may surprise politicians. The use of political morality is examined through the lens of a series of IRish decisions on abortion in the 1980s and 1990s.

constitutional interpretation, human rights, abortion, judicial activism

Abstract:
In this article we explore the nature of relative and absolute human rights, the fundamental principles of liberal democracy on which those rights are based, and the threats posed to those principles by the traditional understanding of how membership should be decided in a community.

Where relative rights like the right to residential stability and the right to political action are linked exclusively to nationality, and where nationality is defined in an exclusionary or restrictive manner (e.g. it is difficult for long term residents to acquire that nationality), then serious problems emerge for liberal democratic theory. If human rights are to be given genuine protection then the importance of the social and cultural background in which one lives and develops ones personality must be acknowledged. Where one's personal development is linked closely to the social and cultural background, then it would be an affront to liberal democracy to remove someone from that society, or deny them the ability to shape that society's political destiny in cooperation with others.

To avoid the taint of illegitimacy states should either recognise that these rights should not be limited just to nationals, or recognise a right to naturalisation to the benefit of integrated aliens. We demonstrate how the European Convention on Human Rights shares this concern.

human rights, aliens, nationality, residence, political rights

Abstract:
A discussion of the fundamental laws of three liberal democratic states - Canada, Ireland and Italy - and the role played by the highest judicial authorities of those states in interpreting the law. The interpretations given are significant for the states, and frequently involve unexpected interpretations of the law. The author addresses the interrelation between constitutional interpretation and political morality, referring both to the work of constitutional judges and to the work of theoretical writers. He argues that constitutional judges, in the task of constitutional interpretation, try to reconstruct the legal materials before them, to provide the most acceptable reconstruction of the legal system from the viewpoint of political morality. In doing this they rely on (legalized) criteria of political morality to judge the correctness of the interpretation. Their reconstruction is a contribution to the public debate on the legitimacy of the legal order.

legal theory, constitutional law, constitutional interpretation, jurisprudence

Abstract:
A Book Review of John Touchie's "Hayek and Human Rights"

human rights, hayek, jurisprudence

Abstract:
A book review of "Language rights and Political Theory", a collection of papers edited by Will Kymlicka and Alan Patten

minority rights, language rights,linguistic policy

Abstract:
A Book Review of a collection of papers by Lord Steyn, of the UK's House of Lords.

constitutional law

Abstract:
Book Review of Conor Gearty's Principles of Human Rights Adjudication.

Human rights,constitutional law