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2022 Events

Three Upcoming Constitutional Law Conferences in UCD Sutherland School of Law

The UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies, headed by Professor Eoin Carolan, is pleased to announce the following events will take place over Summer 2022.

The Housing Commission Conference on a Referendum on Housing in Ireland

May 10-11, online and on campus

 The Centre is hosting a conference with the Government's recently established Housing Commission on the proposed referendum on housing in Ireland. The event will feature a range of national and international speakers and will explore some of the legal and constitutional issues involved in the proposed referendum. Expert panels will consider judicial approaches to socio-economic rights in Ireland and elsewhere, international experiences with housing rights, and what impact constitutionalising socio-economic rights might have. The event will be a hybrid one featuring both remote participants and attendees on-site in the School of Law. Registration is free.

(opens in a new window)Register Here

Annual Conference on recent developments in judicial review and Irish public law

June 14, on campus

This will be the third occasion that the Centre has hosted this event and the first since the pandemic restrictions were first introduced. The conference will feature leading Irish legal practitioners and academics, including the Attorney General, Mr Paul Gallagher SC, the Hon. Mr Justice Maurice Collins of the Court of Appeal and the Hon. Mr Justice Charles Meenan of the High Court. Registration for the event will open in the coming weeks. Queries in advance of this or pre-registration can be sent to laura.mcloughlin@ucd.ie.

Public Law Conference

July 6-8, on campus

The third and final event hosted by the Centre this term will be the 2022 edition of the biennial international Public Law Conference. The event is the leading public law event in the common law world and this will be the first time it has been held in Ireland. The conference takes place in the Sutherland School of Law and will feature over 70 speakers from 9 different common law jurisdictions. The theme of the event, inspired by the centenary of Irish independence and the 1922 Constitution, is 'The Making (and re-making) of Public Law'. We are also very fortunate, with the support of the Government of Ireland's Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012-2023, to host the conference gala dinner in St. Patrick's Hall, Dublin Castle on the evening of July 7.

(opens in a new window)Learn more and Register here

The UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies Annual Public Law conference will take place in UCD Sutherland School of Law.

Date:     29 May 2024

Time:     9.30am to 5pm

Title:      "Current issues in Irish public law"

Programme: Download it here

Venue:   UCD Sutherland School of Law (in person)

CPD:      CPD Points: 5

The UCD Centre for Constitutonal Studies is delighted to open bookings for the 2024 edition of its annual 'Current Issues' conference.
The conference will feature a mixture of general panels on public law, as well as specialist panels on a range of areas including electoral law, information and data protection law, environmental and planning law, criminal law, family and child law, and EU law.
The conference will be of particular interest to those working in or with organisations in the public sector, civil service or regulatory fields.

Participants will include:

Eoin Carolan SC, UCD
John D Fitzgerald SC
Alan Keating SC
Ronan Lupton SC
Ailbhe O'Neill SC, TCD
Conor Power SC
Bernadette Quigley SC
Sarah Cooney BL
Sarah Fennell BL
Hannah Godfrey BL
John Kenny BL
James Kneale BL
Aoife McMahon BL
Colin Smith BL
Aoiffe Moran, Mason Hayes & Curran
Brian Barry, TCD
Kevin Costello, UCD
Paul Daly, University of Ottawa
Stephanie Fitzpatrick, UCD
Andrew Jackson, UCD
Jennifer Kavanagh, SETU
Orla Kelleher, NUI Maynooth
Imelda Maher, UCD.
 Aoife Mulligan BL

Fees: General Rate - €150

Fees: Practitioners <3 yrs, Students, NGOs, Unwaged: - €80

You can book your place below. Please see the below offerings.

The list of speakers and conference programme will be available shortly.

For further enquiries please email (opens in a new window)law.events@ucd.ie.

Conference on a Referendum on Housing in Ireland

The UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies recently hosted a two-day conference with the Housing Commission on a referendum on housing in Ireland. 

The Housing Commission is an independent commission that has been tasked by government with bringing forward proposals on the wording for a referendum on housing.

The conference formed part of the fact finding and orientation stage of the Commissions work, serving as a listening exercise to examine the complex constitutional questions arising and the various proposals that have been made made around the potential wording for an amendment to the Constitution.

The conference was a hybrid event featuring international and domestic experts and which was live-streamed to facilitate public participation in its discussions.

Copies of the papers and presentations from the conference can be (opens in a new window)found here

Current issues conference

The Centre recently hosted its 3rd annual conference on 'Current issues in Irish public law'. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this was the first time the event has been held since 2019. The event attracted over 100 speakers and delegates to the School of Law and covered a range of areas of Irish law including immigration and asylum, criminal law, environmental and planning, regulatory, data protection and access to information, constitutional law and judicial review. 

Contact UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies

University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.