Energy: Carson McDowell-competition in the sector
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011Dorit McCann outlines the local relevance of UK and EU judgements. UK and EU competition law prohibit two main types of anti-competitive activity: (i) arrangements between two or more undertakings which have the object or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition and which appreciably affect trade in the UK or the EU; and (ii) abuse of a dominant position in a market by one or more undertakings. Investigation and enforcement of competition law The Utility Regulator has concurrent powers with the Office of Fair Trading to investigate and take enforcement action in relation...[full story]
Energy: McGrigors–ROC re-banding
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011Richard Murphy of McGrigors LLP discusses the mood in the market with the ROC Re-banding proposals for Northern Ireland. Hot on the heels of the ROC re-banding consultations in Great Britain, the recently published Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) ROC banding consultation has met with a broadly positive response in the local market. Whilst the document is still only consultative at the time of writing this article, it does provide specific insights into a transitional regime for UK renewables, starting in April 2012 and ending in March 2017. During this period the...[full story]
Obituary: Sir Oliver Napier
Friday, September 2nd, 2011Alliance Party leader 1973-1984 11 July 1935 – 2 July 2011 Peace has a price, as Oliver Napier knew well after yet another gun attack or surveying his burnt out farm. Those sacrifices, though, confirmed to him and his wife, Briege, that they were on the right track. A middle-class Catholic solicitor, he joined the Ulster Liberal Party and New Ulster Movement before co-founding Alliance in 1970. He was initially its co- leader, alongside Bob Cooper, before becoming the sole leader in 1973. In the same year, he was elected to the new Assembly for East Belfast. Napier maintained his commitment...[full story]
ICT: Data protection – best practice
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011Regular audits, higher penalties and controlling the use of USB pens in organisations could all improve the protection of data, Assistant Information Commissioner Ken MacDonald tells an agendaNi conference. Fines of up to £500,000 can be issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for data protection breaches. To date, though, the biggest fine the authority has levied is £100,000. Hertfordshire County Council was forced to pay out after it faxed information on child protection to the wrong recipient in two separate cases. Assistant Information Commissioner Ken MacDonald...[full story]
Justice: Attorney-General – a case for reform?
Friday, January 28th, 2011Peter Cheney reviews the Attorney-General’s work to date and considers the potential for more powers. While John Larkin has kept a low public profile since his appointment as Attorney- General, on 25 May last year, his role is a significant addition to the devolved system of government. A local individual is now the Executive’s chief legal advisor and guarding the public interest for the first time in nearly 40 years. Northern Ireland had 11 Attorneys-General between 1921 and 1972, starting with Richard Best and ending with Basil Kelly. Upon direct rule, the post passed to the Attorney-General...[full story]
Justice: Policing and rights
Friday, January 28th, 2011Basil McCrea updates agendaNi on the Policing Board’s work on human rights and professional standards. Far from being an abstract idea, human rights can be practically applied in policing on the ground. Human rights is not a foreign or ultra- liberal concept, according to Basil McCrea. The UUP MLA, who chairs the Policing Board’s Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee, points out that British parliamentarians helped to draw up the European Convention on Human Rights after World War Two. Winston Churchill was among its early supporters. McCrea states that human rights is...[full story]
Justice: Reviewing prisons
Friday, January 28th, 2011Northern Ireland’s prisons are too focused on controlling rather than changing inmates, according to several critical reports. Peter Cheney summarises the ongoing prison review and looks at why reform has been held up. Prison policy was, for many years, inseparable from the Troubles. The hunger strikes and the early releases after the Good Friday Agreement turned the media’s attention on the Maze. Thirty prison officers and other staff have been killed due to their work, with many others injured or threatened. Now, in changed times, the Prison Service is under pressure to reform,...[full story]
Justice: Youth justice reviewed
Friday, January 28th, 2011Youth justice in Northern Ireland is currently being reviewed. Emma Blee reports on the key issues to be addressed. The age that children are held legally accountable for crime and the way they are treated within the justice system are being examined as part of a major review. Last February’s Hillsborough Agreement set out plans to review “how children and young people are processed at all stages of the criminal justice system, including detention, to ensure compliance with international obligations and best practice”. In Northern Ireland, England and Wales, the age of criminal...[full story]
Justice: Inside restorative justice
Friday, January 28th, 2011Introduced as an alternative to paramilitary punishments, restorative justice schemes are often the first port-of-call for working class communities that still remain wary of the PSNI. Meadhbh Monahan reports. “There is an appetite to bring paramilitarism back,” warns Debbie Watters. She is the project manager for the Greater Shankill branch of Northern Ireland Alternatives, one of five community-based restorative justice schemes operating in loyalist areas in Belfast and Bangor. Watters tells agendaNi: “The view is that when the boys were sorting it out, a lid was kept on [crime]...[full story]
Justice: Avoidable delay
Friday, January 28th, 2011Delays in the criminal justice system are adding extra pressure to victims, witnesses and defendants. agendaNi analyses the extent of the problem and how it can be resolved. Despite major efforts to tackle avoidable delay, the length of time it takes the justice system to process people through court here is still considerably longer than that of England and Wales, according to a report on the subject. Statistics from the Public Prosecution Service show that in 2009-2010, out of a possible 75,887 cases, 21,654 ended with no prosecution. Some 20,059 of these did not proceed because they...[full story]
