Darius Whelan

Prison should not be a waiting room for mental health services Chronic underfunding, no outpatient service framework and a lack of supported accommodation have all brought us to the point where our prisons are full of the mentally ill, writes Charles O'Mahony

Prison should not be a waiting room for mental health services.
By @charlesomahony.bsky.social
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Last week marked Fair Dealing Week, the annual celebration of exceptions. But we rely on exceptions every day.
My series drew from novelist Thea Lim to legal scholar Peter Yu. Particular attention was given to the seeming payout of$3000 per book used in AI training.
fairduty.wordpress.com

Two UCC law students were recently awarded the RDJ Diversity & Inclusion Scholarships

This is the 5th year RDJ has awarded the Scholarship at UCC which support students from ethnic minorities and those who are under-represented in the legal profession in Ireland.

More: www.ucc.ie/en/law/news/...

Tougher laws for AI could be useful - media regulator The media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, will tell the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) today that tougher laws relating to AI-generated deepfake sexual imagery could be useful.

Coimisiún na Meán will tell the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence that tougher laws relating to AI-generated deepfake sexual imagery could be useful.

Criminalising ‘Conversion Therapy’ An increasing number of jurisdictions have introduced legal bans on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ practices. Yet significant uncertainty and disagreement persist among legal scholars, policymakers a...

There is growing consensus that so-called 'conversion therapy' practices are harmful and must be banned.

But which legal mechanisms should be used to do this?

My article (with Stuart Goosey), Criminalising “Conversion Therapy”, published in the MLR, takes up this urgent question shorturl.at/AHkfb

In North Kerry Camhs, children were far more likely to be medicated than receive talk therapy Families have spoken out about children who attended services seeking help but as a shell of their former selves

In North Kerry CAMHS, children were far more likely to be medicated than receive talk therapy.
Families have spoken out about children who attended services seeking help but as a shell of their former selves. #mentalhealth
www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...

For those who have been the subject of intimate image abuse – including children – criminal sanctions after the event are of little comfort. Restriction of access to these tools is urgently required. Clare Daly nudifies the rogue robots.
#cybercrime #law
www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/in-d...

Minister denies seclusion used as substitute for care Minister of State with Responsibility for Mental Health Mary Butler has denied that seclusion is being used as a substitute for care.

Minister denies seclusion used as substitute for care.
#mentalhealth
www.rte.ie/news/health/...

Man with brain injury spent over 2 years in solitary at Central Mental Hospital His mother said her heart is broken thinking of him 'walking around in that room with nothing only the four walls to look at'

Tipperary man with brain injury spent over two years locked in solitary at Central Mental Hospital.
His mother said her heart is broken thinking of him 'walking around in that room with nothing only the four walls to look at'.
www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-n...

Family calls for release of report into Cloverhill Prison death More than five years after a psychiatric patient died in Cloverhill Prison, his family says a key report remains unreleased.

The family of a psychiatric patient who died in Cloverhill Prison more than five years ago have called for the immediate release of a report into the circumstances of his death.
#mentalhealth
www.rte.ie/news/investi...

Five years in seclusion: Family speaks of 'dreadful' ordeal The family of a brain-injured man who spent almost five years locked on his own in small rooms in uninterrupted seclusion has spoken out about what they describe as the "absolutely dreadful" condition...

Five years in seclusion: Family speaks of 'dreadful' ordeal.
#mentalhealth
www.rte.ie/news/investi...

RTÉ Investigates rapid rise in waiting list for the Central Mental Hospital amid psychiatric care crisis in Ireland – About RTÉ RTÉ Investigates rapid rise in waiting list for the Central Mental Hospital  amid psychiatric care crisis in Ireland’s prisons   – Highest figures on record of people deemed sick enough to require tre...

RTÉ Investigates rapid rise in waiting list for the Central Mental Hospital amid psychiatric care crisis in Ireland
#mentalhealthlaw
about.rte.ie/2026/02/09/r...

Surge in actively psychotic patients held in prisons, RTÉ finds A rapid rise in numbers of acutely psychotic people in prison is deepening a crisis in psychiatric care, RTÉ Investigates finds.

Surge in actively psychotic patients held in prisons, RTÉ finds #mentalhealthlaw
www.rte.ie/news/investi...

A thesis about psychosurgery in the UK Dr Rebecca Watterson of Ulster University has published an interesting PhD thesis on Psychosurgery in the United Kingdom: 1940-1986. In the introduction, Watterson identifies the absence of a compr…

A thesis about psychosurgery in the UK #mentalhealthlaw ectstatistics.wordpress.com/2026/02/08/a...

Hertz car-hire ordered to pay blind woman €10k over valet fee for guide-dog soiling Workplace Relations Commission upholds complaint against company alleging disability discrimination

Hertz car-hire ordered to pay blind woman €10k over valet fee for guide-dog soiling.
Workplace Relations Commission upholds complaint against company alleging disability discrimination.
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...

ICCL writes to Seanad re: Mental Health Bill (2024) Committee Stage Debate ICCL has written to the Seanad ahead of today's debate on the Mental Health Bill 2024.

ICCL has written to the Seanad ahead of today's debate on the Mental Health Bill 2024. In partnership with Mental Health Reform, ICCL welcomes some of the proposed amendments -- but the Bill as currently drafted still fails to protect human rights in several key areas ➡️ www.iccl.ie/news/iccl-wr...

Law and Innovation Clinic | University College Cork Learn, Study and Research in UCC, Ireland's first 5 star university. Our tradition of independent thinking will prepare you for the world and the workplace in a vibrant, modern, green campus.

The Law and Innovation Clinic @lawucc.bsky.social is accepting queries from startups for this semester. Copyright Law, GDPR, Electronic Commerce Law and domain name law. @UCC #dataprotection
www.ucc.ie/en/law/socie...

Grok is probably breaching the 1998 Act, e.g. if a child is depicted erotically, showing the child's genital or anal region. The IWF in the UK has said that Grok is used to create material which is illegal under UK law - category C. Irish law is quite similar, prohibiting explicit erotic posing.

We decided to ask the Department of Education why it is posting photos of children to the making sexual images from photos of children site. We haven't had an answer yet.

Is there an information gap here? Has the CEO of hotline.ie not read what the Grok app is doing? Or am I missing something? I'm genuinely confused.

@conorgallagher.bsky.social

www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...

Ireland could prosecute Twitter/X for AI 'child porn' deepfakes The horrific child sex abuse material produced every day by Grok is already banned under Irish law. The real test is if we are ready to enforce that law against large tech companies

I write in today's @irishexaminer.bsky.social about the laws that are broken when online AI platforms facilitate the production of child sex abuse material. No new laws are needed. Companies (and their executives) are accountable as well as users.

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

‘Radical overhaul’ called for following mistreatment findings at Bloomfield Hospital Minister of State for Mental Health said ‘it’s simply unacceptable that there would be issues over incontinence wear’

‘Radical overhaul’ called for following mistreatment findings at Bloomfield Hospital.
Minister of State for Mental Health said ‘it’s simply unacceptable that there would be issues over incontinence wear’.
www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

TCD Law School - Murder on the High Seas? Join us 13 Jan 2026 to examine the legality of deadly attacks at sea under international & US law. Speakers: Rick Lorenz & Michael A. Becker
www.tcd.ie/ahss/news-an...

TCD Law School - Civil Legal Aid: From Review to Reform. Join FLAC’s day-long conference on access to justice at Trinity College Dublin, 12 Jan 2026. www.tcd.ie/ahss/news-an...

New Central Mental Hospital still grappling with problems three years after it opened Ireland’s new Central Mental Hospital (CMH) is still grappling with serious safety and governance problems more than a year after an inspection found widespread regulatory failures.

New Central Mental Hospital still grappling with problems three years after it opened
www.independent.ie/irish-news/n...

UK Government replies to parliamentary question on ECT with inaccurate statistics On 24 November 2025, Conservative MP for Romford, Andrew Rossindell, asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care “how many patients received NHS electroshock therapy in every year…

UK Government replies to parliamentary question on ECT with inaccurate statistics
#mentalhealth
ectstatistics.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/u...

Returning officer discriminated against Portuguese national over ballot paper denial | BreakingNews The Workplace Relations Commission upheld a complaint by Carlos Manuel Garcia da Silva that the returning officer had breached the Equal Status Act 2000 by discriminating against him on grounds of his...

Returning officer discriminated against Portuguese national over ballot paper denial
#EqualStatusAct #WRC
www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/retu...

Chat GPT v Justice: Ireland fights back. England, please copy. - LoupedIn Believe it or not, Industrial Tribunals (as they were then called) were supposed never to have lawyers in them. The idea was there would be quick and simple resolution of workplace disputes on the bas...

Chat GPT v Justice: Ireland fights back. England, please copy.
#employmentlaw #WRC #AI
loupedin.blog/2025/12/chat...

Firefighter who accused senior officer of ‘snide remarks’ about his weight wins €15,000 Workplace Relations Commission heard allegations of the removal of kit from part-time retained firefighter Cian Donohoe

Firefighter who accused senior officer of ‘snide remarks’ about his weight wins €15,000.
Workplace Relations Commission heard allegations of the removal of kit from part-time retained firefighter Cian Donohoe. Article by @anburcach.bsky.social
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...

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