Reinvigorating Ireland’s commitment to Free Access to Law

24 Oct 2019

On 22^nd October 2019, the Chief Justice of Ireland, Mr. Justice Frank Clarke relaunched the Irish Legal Information Initiative (IRLII)

IRLII was originally founded by Professor John Mee in 2001 as part of UCC Law’s commitment to the Free Access to the Law Movement and in association with the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII). Under the current directorship of Dr. Maria Cahill and Dr. Patrick O’Callaghan, along with a dedicated team of student researchers, the IRLII offering has been revamped and now boasts a new website and Twitter account.  

One of the most important innovations is the inclusion of keywords, which will help researchers to easily access the legal materials most useful to them.

This will benefit everybody: from students preparing for exams to academics writing cutting-edge papers, from barristers preparing submissions to judges who want to keep track of developments across the whole legal system, from legal researchers drafting a paper on a particular aspect of law to journalists who want to give an informed analysis of recent developments.

This additional functionality will further promote the aims of the Free Access to Law movement in Ireland, ensuring that legal materials are available on a not-for-profit basis and free of charge, thereby removing any barriers of status, income or location and promoting justice, equality, inclusions and the rule.