(Not that we expect anyone to read anything but our Boxing Day Quiz on Boxing Day)

COVID-19 and the right to worship in Ireland

On Monday, the Irish High Court dismissed a challenge to the Regulations – now revoked – which banned attendance at public religious worship during various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The claimant, Mr Declan Ganley, had argued that, though the disputed Regulations had lapsed, their content had raised important issues about the balance between public health and the right to public worship under Article 44 of the Constitution: in particular, what he claimed was the “outright criminalisation” of the act of leaving one’s home to attend public worship – which, he maintained, required justification. He also contended that the Regulations had been ultra vires the Health Act 1947, as amended. Continue reading →