Privacy Law in Ireland

Provides an analysis of the origins, current sources, and character of privacy law in Ireland with a particular focus on how to navigate privacy claims and balance privacy with other interests before the Irish courts.

It clarifies the relationship between private law protection of privacy rights in tort and statute, and constitutional conceptions of the right and compares how European Union and international law impacts on the privacy jurisprudence of the Irish courts.

Part One:

Addresses the sources of privacy rights in Ireland, with an account of how the right to privacy has been protected under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, explaining the influence of the ECHR on privacy adjudication before the CJEU and outlining the trickle-down impact of the decisions of both courts on the secondary laws of the European Union, and national law in turn.

Part Two:

Considers the genres of privacy recognised by the Irish courts namely, personal, spatial and informational privacy. The chapters in this part consider the recent decisions in respect of data retention and privacy rights in Dwyer v Commissioner of Garda Síochána as well as the implications of the CJEU and Supreme Court decisions in the matter for criminal prosecutions relying on data retained under the now invalidated legislation. Part Two also considers the recent Supreme Court decision in DPP v Quinn which adds significantly to the jurisprudence of the Irish courts in respect of digital privacy under Article 40.5 of the Constitution, and has implications for the search of digital devices more broadly.

This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional''s Intellectual Property and IT online service.