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As Ireland agrees to the text of statements made by the Presidency of the European Union before they are delivered, these too may be evidence of Ireland 's position on certain legal matters. 

Access to  the text of statements made by the EU at the UN on international law matters is available here.

Statements regarding the work of the International Law Commission

Introduction

Article 13(1) of the UN Charter provides that the General Assembly shall initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification. In 1947 the General Assembly established the International Law Commission (ILC) to carry out this precise function.

The Statute of the ILC makes a distinction “for convenience” between:

(a) progressive (meaning “the preparation of draft conventions on subjects which have not yet been regulated by international law or in regard to which the law has not yet been sufficiently developed in the practice of States”), and

(b) codification (meaning “the more precise formulation and systematisation of rules of international law in fields where there already has been extensive State practice, precedent and doctrine”).

According to the ILC itself, “governments play an important role at every stage of the work of codification and progressive development … Individually, they furnish information at the outset of the Commission's work and comment upon its drafts and, collectively, they decide sometimes upon the initiation or priority of the work and always upon its outcome.”

The ILC presents annual reports to the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly (the Committee which deals with legal matters). In addition, after the ILC has submitted its final draft to the General Assembly on a topic, the Assembly normally requests states to comment on the draft.

Statements made by Ireland to the UN General Assembly regarding the work of the ILC

The text of Ireland 's statements to the UN General Assembly regarding the work of the ILC are available from the links below:

(a) Ireland’s Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on the Responsibility of International Organisations, 2005 (PDF 2068kb)

(b) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the International Law Commission's draft articles on the responsibilty of International Organisations. Statement to UNGA 61, 2006 (PDF 195kb).  

(c)  Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on the Responsibility of International Organisations. Statement to UNGA 62, 29 October 2007 (PDF 263kb)

(d) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report in relation to the Obligation to Extradite or Prosecute. Statement to UNGA 62, 1 November 2007(PDF 114kb)

(e) Ireland’s Comments and Observations on the ILC Report in relation to Protection of persons in the event of disaster. Statement to UNGA 64, 30 October 2009 (PDF 635kb) (PDF 2406kb)

(f) Ireland’s comments and observations on the ILC Report on the Responsibility of International Organisations. Statement to UNGA64, 27 October 2009 (PDF 53kb)

(g) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disaster. Statement to UNGA 65, 28 October 2010 (PDF 1625kb)

(h) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on the Scope and Application of the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction. Statement to UNGA 66, 12 October 2011 (PDF 93kb)

(i) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disaster. Statement to UNGA 66, 28 October 2011 (PDF 93kb)

(j) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on Other Decisions and Conclusions of the Commission. Statement to UNGA 66, 4 November 2011 (PDF 58kb)

(k) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on Part 1, Chapters I-III (Introduction, Summary of Work, Specific Issues), Chapter IV (Expulsion of Aliens), Chapter V (Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters) and Chapter XII (Other Decisions). Statement to UNGA 67, 2 November 2012 (PDF 1367kb)

(l) Ireland's Comments and Observations on the ILC Report on Part 3, Chapter VI (Immunity of State Officials), Chapter VII (Provisional Application of Treaties), Chapter VIII (Formation of Customary International Law), Chapter IX (Extradite or Prosecute), Chapter X (Treaties over Time), Chapter XI (Most Favoured Nation Clause). Statement to UNGA 67, 5 November 2012 (PDF 1901kb)

Statements by Ireland in other International Fora

The Statement by James Kingston, Legal Adviser, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on behalf of Eamon Gilmore T.D., Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, at the launch of Vols IV-V of the Irish Yearbook of International Law, UCC, 9 November 2012 is available here (PDF 133kb) .

The Statement by James Kingston, Legal Adviser, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland on the occasion of the High Level Meeting on the Rule of Law, 24 September 2012 is available here. ../uploads/documents/icj declaration - hlm rule of law 24 sept 2012.pdf (PDF 139kb)

The Address by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, to the International Court of Justice, the Hague, 2 May 2011 is available here.

The Statement of Ireland to the High-Level Conference on the Future of the European Court of Human Rights, Izmir, Turkey, 26 April 2011 is available here.

The Statement of Ireland to the Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Kampala, Uganda, 1 June 2010 is available here.

The Statement of Ireland to the High-Level Conference on the Future of the European Court of Human Rights, Interlaken, Switzerland, 16 February 2010 is available here.

The Statement of Ireland to the 30th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Geneva, Switzerland, 28 November 2007, is available here.

Statements to the Dáil

In addition to answering Parliamentary Questions, the Minister for Foreign Affairs occasionally makes statements to the Dáil on particular issues. The text of recent such statements may be obtained by a keyword search, using the search function at the bottom of the Press Releases section of this website.

Irish Case Law on certain International Law Issues

The following is a list of some Irish cases which consider international law issues:

Interaction between Irish law and International Law

In re Ó Láighléis [1960] IR 93

State (Gilliand) v Governor of Mountjoy Prison [1987] ILRM 278

ACT Shipping (Pte) Ltd v Minister for the Marine and Others [1995] 3 IR 407

Horgan v An Taoiseach, Minister for Foreign Affairs [2003] 2 IR 468

Crotty v An Taoiseach [1987] IR 173

State Immunity

Zarine v Owners of SS Ramava [1942] IR 148

Saorstát and Continental Steamship Co v De Los Morenas [1945] IR 291

State (Summers Jennings ) v Furlong [1966] IR 183

Government of Canada v Employment Appeals Tribunal [1992] 2 IR 484

Fusco v O'Dea [1994] 2 IR 93

The Marshall Gelovani [1995] 1 IR 159

McElhinney v Williams [1995] 3 IR 382

ACT Shipping (Pte) Ltd v Minister for the Marine [1995] 3 IR 406

Schmidt v Home Secretary of the Government of the United Kingdom [1997] 2 IR 121