European law

IRISH RAIL

Hey guys this might seem silly to those in the know but heres my question

Does European law superceed Irish law ??

if it does what would the situation regarding licencing laws be ? eg opening hours, would it be a breech of a euro constitutional right to close a pub at 1 on a sunday??

thanks

Rhonda9000

Supreme to Irish law - yes.

European liquor licencing law - does not exist.

"Euro constitutional rights" - there is no EU consitution, and the European Convention on Human Rights has more sunstantive aims in mind than closure times for public houses.

dats_right

Yes, EU law does supercede Irish law but only in areas of EU competencies i.e. areas where Member States' governments have handed over power to the EU to legislate. There is no EU law governing licensing of this sort.

IRISH RAIL

Thanks (he says as he cowers in the corner for showing his stupidity)

Rhonda9000

No such thing as a stupid Q ..

Thirdfox

Rhonda9000 wrote: »

Supreme to Irish law - yes.

European liquor licencing law - does not exist.

"Euro constitutional rights" - there is no EU consitution, and the European Convention on Human Rights has more sunstantive aims in mind than closure times for public houses.

And there are debates both here and in Germany that I know of when we talk about ultimate supremacy of both EU law (as upheld by the ECJ) and ECHR "law" (as upheld by the ECHR).

With the first - the Germans bundes-something or other (supreme court basically) said in a judgment that EU law is supreme - because we choose to recognise it in our constitution, however this recognition could be revoked if it conflicts fundamentally with the constitution.

Similarly - we have all these constitutional amendments to recognise the power of EU law. The argument is then that our constitution is above EU law but we choose to incorporate EU law into our constitution (SEA, Maastricht, Nice, Lisbon(?) etc.) But if we do not incorporate it I'm sure many legal practitioners will argue we will not be bound by decisions on those areas handed down by the ECJ or Court of First Instance.

For ECHR "law" - judgments from the european court of human rights are declarations of incompatibility with the ECHR, and have no binding effect (as opposed to a finding of unconstitutionality in the Irish Supreme Court). But since we're 1st world countries who want to lecture others on moral superiority the respective governments will obey judgments not because they have to, but because they feel they should.

Put another way - I'd prefer a finding of unconstitutionality in the Irish SC over a declaration of incompatibility in the ECHR any day!

Put another way, international law and international politics are inextricably linked, while actions may be strange when viewed through a purely legal prism when we factor in socio-political agendas things become more understandable.