The recent changes to the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004- 2019 mean that those with a lease or licence for student accommodation are now protected to some extent by the residential tenancies legislation. Many term-time tenancies were previously considered as licences and fell outside the legislation.
This is an important update on submitting applications for Irish citizenship by naturalisation. In the recent appeal of a refusal of Irish citizenship by Roderick Jones, it was argued that the Minister ought not to have refused the application where the applicant had spent 100 days abroad in the year leading up to his application, as there were valid reasons for Mr Jones’ absence from the state and it did not suggest that he was no longer continuously resident. The High Court however made a surprising decision, by applying a literal interpretation of the word continuous in the legislation. It was held that any absence whatsoever from the state during the year prior to application would make the applicant ineligible for naturalisation.
Under GDPR, employers are entitled to monitor employee activity if they have a lawful basis for doing so and the purpose of their monitoring is clearly communicated to employees in advance-before any data is recorded the data subject must be warned. A system used to monitor the building for security purposes will usually be easy to justify. The use of CCTV systems in other circumstances – for example, to constantly monitor employees – can be more difficult to justify and could involve a breach of the Data Protection Acts. Should an employee object to the use of CCTV cameras in a particular area, the GDPR test places the burden on the employer to demonstrate that it has “compelling legitimate grounds” for processing that override the employees’ rights, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
The Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 provides for the making of the Pyrite Remediation Scheme for certain dwellings affected by reactive pyrite and for the establishment of the Pyrite Resolution Board (PRB) to manage the implementation of such scheme. The Pyrite Remediation Scheme is for the remediation of eligible dwellings that have a damage condition rating of 2 as a result of pyritic heave caused by the swelling of hardcore under ground floor slabs.
Article 30(1) of the EU’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD) requires all EU Member States to require companies to hold an up-to-date record of their beneficial owner or owners. This came into effect via part 2 of SI110/2019 on the 22nd March this year.
The Domestic Violence Act 2018 has come into force this month, and serves to strengthen existing protections and create new protections for victims of domestic abuse.
The protections under the act apply equally to men and women, and apply regardless of immigration status. The only restriction is that young people under the age of eighteen are unable to apply for protective orders on their own behalf.
After a period of little or no activity developers are now increasingly engaged in building and selling new houses and apartments. The attractions of buying a newly built residence are (or at any rate should be) that:
- It is designed and built to current standards and accordingly will be more energy efficient and less expensive to run;
- Apart from furnishings and decoration it should not be necessary to incur significant expenditure on renovations and repairs;
- The Purchaser may be able to avail of the “Help to Buy” incentives;
- The Purchaser may (to some extent) be able to choose finishes (and in some cases “extras”) to customise the property;
- If problems emerge in the works done the Purchaser may be able to look to the developer or to avail of an insurance backed scheme (such as Homebond or Premier Guarantee) to deal with them.
General Data Protection Regulation
On Friday May 25th 2018 GDPR came into force. Although the key principles of data protection don’t change, there are changes to the regulatory policies. Below, we look at the main changes we will now see in Irish Law.
Now more than ever, we live in a world where knowledge is power. Businesses have discovered that the more information they have about an individual, the easier it is to sell them products and services. The internet thrives on the gathering and utilising of personal information. But, as individuals, we have rights in respect of information that can individually identify us. Our rights come into effect when there is any personal information about us stored on paper, on a computer, in the cloud or by way of photograph or video.
Most of us are somewhat uncomfortable when contemplating our own mortality, and such discomfort can prevent some people from making a will. However, many people find that making a will brings a sense of comfort and security in knowing that their wishes will be followed after they are gone. Wills are not only for the elderly; it is recommended that everyone makes a will, particularly on becoming a parent, or upon acquiring an asset such as a first home.
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