cearta.ie – Page 90 – the Irish for rights

By way of a brief update on my two recent posts about third level policy, a story in yesterday’s papers caught my eye. First, a report in the Irish Times:

Less than 15% in some Dublin areas going to college

Less than 15 per cent of Leaving Cert students in some poorer areas of Dublin are progressing to third level, according to the 2010 Irish Times feeder school list published today. … In stark contrast, most schools in south Dublin have a progression rate of 100 per cent; every one of their students who sat the Leaving Cert this year has progressed to third level.

The new figures come amid renewed controversy about the impact of the abolition of third-level fees in 1995 and as students face increased registration charges in next month’s budget. The list appears to show that “free fees” have have had only a marginal impact in boosting participation levels in poorer areas. …

The Irish Times also publishes a separate list focusing on progression rates to high-points courses, mostly in the university sector. This list is dominated by feepaying schools. …

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate either list on the Irish Times website. The Irish Independent has a similar story:

Parents buying school success, figures reveal
More than 90pc of students who sat the Leaving Cert in fee-paying or grind schools went on to higher education, figures compiled by the Irish Independent reveal.

…

Higher education policy: evidence from Ireland and Europe

18 November, 201016 November, 2012

| 2 Comments

| Irish Society, Universities

Picking up where I left off with yesterday’s post about the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Higher Education Policy Conference, Professor David Raffe, Director of the Centre for Educational Sociology in the University of Edinburgh spoke on “Higher education policies across the UK since devolution”, and his paper put the higher education policy issues into context. In particular, he demonstrates not only the challenges being faced by higher education at present but also the diversity of available policy responses even in the UK. I’m going to summarize those aspects of his paper which are relevant to Irish circumstances and leave to one side his application of those elements to devolution in the UK [my occasional comments about the Irish position are in parentheses], and I will use his paper to put the contribution of Dr Selina McCoy in context.…

Sleepwalking into an obscene damages award

17 November, 20103 February, 2013

| 8 Comments

| Defamation, Defamation Act 2009, Freedom of Expression, Irish cases, Irish Law

Obscene. Once I had caught my breath, and collected my composure, this was my immediate reaction to learning that a high court jury had awarded 10 million euro in libel damages, made up of €9m in compensatory damages and €1m in aggravated damages. According to RTÉ:

A Co Louth businessman who took a libel action against his former employers after an incident in which he sleep walked naked has been awarded €10m in damages.

The jury agreed that a press release sent out by mining company Kenmare Resources in July 2007 insinuated that Donal Kinsella had made inappropriate sexual advances to company secretary Deirdre Corcoran on a business trip in Mozambique in May that year.

The award is the highest award of damages for defamation in the history of the State. … Lawyers for Kenmare Resources were granted a stay on the award pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. … Kenmare Resources issued a statement saying it was ‘shocked’ at the verdict and it will ‘immediately and vigorously appeal the decision’.

The Irish Times added: “Outside court, Mr Kinsella (67) said he was ‘exhilarated and vindicated’ by the jury’s verdict”. I do not in any way begrudge him the vindication of his reputation, but does this really require 10 million euro?…

Higher education policy in Ireland: achievements and challenges

17 November, 201016 November, 2012

| 5 Comments

| Irish Society, Universities

I attended the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Higher Education Policy Conference yesterday on the topic “Higher Education Policy: Evidence from Ireland and Europe”. In the first session, Dr Selina McCoy of the ESRI spoke on “Higher education research in Ireland: where are we now?” and Muiris O’Connor of the Higher Education (HEA) spoke on “Higher education policy in Ireland: achievements and challenges”. In the second session, Professor David Raffe, Director of the Centre for Educational Sociology in the University of Edinburgh spoke on “Higher education policies across the UK since devolution” and Research Professor Liv Anne Støren of the Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Oslo spoke on “New trends in higher education in Norway – Are traditional male students ousted by female working class students and immigrant students?”. It was a fascinating series of presentations. Muiris O’Connor’s paper was an excellent survey of the evolution and present state of the Irish higher education sector. David Raffe’s paper put the higher education policy issues into context. Selina McCoy examined the very important specific issue of access to higher education in Ireland, whilst Live Anne Støren provided a comparative perspective on that issue.…

Can you recover taxes and charges from airlines when you don’t travel?

16 November, 201015 November, 2010

| 1 Comment

| Airline charges, Consumer, Contract, Restitution

Yes, you can. If you book to travel with an airline, and pay their fee plus government taxes and airport charges, but if you then don’t travel, so that the taxes are not due and the charges are not incurred, you are entitled to recover those taxes and charges from the airline. If the contract between you and the airline contains a clause either making them irrecoverable or imposing disproportionately high administration fees to recover them, that clause is unenforceable (on foot of the European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations, 1995 (SI No 27 of 1995). I have already discussed this matter here, here, and here. Those posts discuss the ongoing campaign by the National Consumer Agency against airlines which refuse to refund such taxes and charges, or which impose disproportionately high administration fees when non-travelling passengers seek to recover them. In the Irish Times recently, Ciarán Hancock reported on the next stage of that campaign:

Airlines retain €28m in taxes and charges on unfilled flight seats

The National Consumer Agency (NCA) is seeking to clip the wings of Irish airlines who pocket taxes and airport charges paid by passengers who do not travel on flights they have booked.

…

Turner, Garrow, Zong; Contract law and the slave trade, redux

15 November, 201030 November, 2020

| 4 Comments

| Cinema, television and theatre, Contract, The Zong

I love the paintings of WIlliam Turner (1775–1851). Every January, the Vaughan bequest of Turner watercolours goes on display in the National Gallery of Ireland, and every January I spend a happy Saturday afternoon in their company. One of Turner’s most arresting paintings is The Slave Ship (Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying — Typhoon coming on) (1840) which is now on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (thumbnail, left; click through for better image). It is inspired in part by the story of the slaveship The Zong (replica image | image | story | wikipedia). In 1781, the shipowners claimed under an insurance contract for the value of lost cargo, which consisted of 133 slaves thrown overboard because the ship was running out of water (it is voyage 84106 on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database). The captain claimed he acted out of necessity; and in the infamous case of Gregson v Gilbert (1783) 3 Doug 232, 99 ER 629, [1783] EngR 85 (22 May 1783) (pdf | National Archives), the claim succeeded at first instance, but failed on appeal.

Although this action was for breach of contract, it is the inspiration for the main action in last night’s episode of Garrow’s Law (BBC | imdb | wikipedia), a BBC television series inspired by the life and times of 18th century barrister William Garrow.…

Emails, photos, and the public’s interests

14 November, 201010 December, 2012

| 1 Comment

| Press Council, Privacy

Earlier this week, I appeared on the Todayfm radio programme The Last Word, with guest presenter Anton Savage and fellow contributor Patrick Kinsella of the School of Communications at DCU (you can listen back to the show here until next Thursday). Newspapers earlier in the week had reported that male employees at the Dublin office of an international accountancy firm had circulated an email rating newly arrived female trainees for a Top 10 list. The following day, several newspapers went further and published the photos and names of the women involved. On the radio programme, we discussed whether this later coverage crossed a line and invaded the women’s privacy.

Both Patrick and I argued that the later coverage did indeed cross that line. In my view, there was an invasion of the women’s privacy, and not once but twice. There was a wrongful intrusion into the women’s private activities, by the disclosure of information in which they had a reasonable expectation of privacy, first by other individuals within the company, and then by the media.

Within the company, the women had their photographs taken for human resources or personnel purposes, but these images were misused for prurience and titillation, first by people within the firm and then by the newspapers which published them.…

The Dublin pattern

14 November, 20108 November, 2010

| No Comments

| General

I have recently discovered that one of the classic and elegant nineteenth century chess set designs is called the Dublin Pattern:

The Dublin Pattern chess set, via Bill Wall's Chessville site

Bill Wall says the Dublin pattern was introduced about 1820. The pieces were made of ebony and boxwood with fine carved knights, and it was marketed by Jacques. Although Jacques is still going strong, they don’t seem to have the Dublin pattern in their current chess set listing – unfortunately. The House of Staunton says that original Dublin Pattern sets are extremely rare, with only a handful of complete sets in existence and securely in the hands of private collectors, but it has thoughtfully introduced an exact replica set, for a mere $695. I think I’ll still with my current set.…