by Creagh Joy Solicitors | Jul 15, 2022 | Legal News
Under Irish law, everyone who is in possession of a device in their home that is capable of receiving a television signal, even if the device is broken, must pay the annual €160 TV licence fee.
The €160 annual fee is currently paid by 85% of Irish households in the State, netting €200 million a year for the funding of RTE. However, criticism against the TV licence has increased in recent years, having been described as an outdated system in an era of increasing variety of TV channels and audio-visual technologies.
Following a failed proposal brought to Cabinet earlier this week which asked the government to ditch the €160 annual fee, it is clear that this mandatory payment will not be abandoned any time soon.
Instead of a decision to outright discard the fee, Minister for Media, Catherine Martin has set up a working group to examine how the license fee should be collected in a more effective way, with the Minister saying that it needs to be much stronger.
“The licence fee will remain but will need to be updated to the way people actually consume media now and collection needs to be strengthened,” a government note reads.
Despite the mandatory fee looking set to remain, there are a number of certain groups in Ireland that are exempt from paying this fee as part of the Household Benefits Package (HBP).
These groups include:
- People over the age of 70
- Those in receipt of Disability Allowance
- Those in receipt of Invalidity Pension
- Those in receipt of Blind Pension
- Those who receive Incapacity Supplement (for at least 12 months) with Disablement Pension (for at least 12 months)
- Anyone who is caring for and living with a person who is in receipt of Constant Attendance Allowance
- Anyone who receives Carer’s Allowance (full or half-rate payment), provided that you are living with the person you are caring for
- Those who receive equivalent Social Security Pension or Benefit from a country covered by EU Regulations, OR from a country with which Ireland has a Bilateral Social Security Agreement.
As part of the HBP, the groups listed above can choose to benefit from help with the cost of electricity or gas bill, or a free TV licence.
If you qualify for the HBP, you can apply for a free TV Licence from your next date of renewal, selecting the ‘Television Licence’ option on the HBP form when you apply.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
by Creagh Joy Solicitors | Jul 7, 2022 | Legal News
A deaf customer of Permanent TSB has been awarded €8,500 compensation after the bank refused to deal with a sign language interpreter who was assisting her with a phone call.
Equal Status Act 2000
Under the Equal Status Act 2000, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled that the woman had been discriminated against on the grounds of her disability, as well as being “greatly inconvenienced” by her bank.
The WRC was told that, while the complainant would generally use Permanent TSB’s smartphone application for her daily banking needs, she needed to speak directly with someone who worked at the bank over an issue with her password in the summer of 2019.
The complainant went on to say that that, after booking an interpreter through the Irish Sign Language Interpreting Services to help her communicate with the bank, the call was passed around between various officials before a manager eventually confirmed it could not do business with her through a third party.
Contesting the allegations, Permanent TSB rejected any claims that it had not accommodated the complainant sufficiently as she was invited to attend any branch or use its website. It further agued that the complainant was treated no differently than any other customer would have been in that situation.
Blanket Refusal
However, the complainant stated that she would have had the same problem had she visited a branch of Permanent TSB, and that their blanket refusal to deal with third-party representatives was discriminatory and affront to her sense of independence.
While WRC adjudicator Penelope McGrath praised the bank for its response and willingness to look at how it might accommodate all deaf people, she went on to say that she could not understand why the bank had not agreed some sort of bespoke arrangement with the customer since she first made a complaint to the WRC in early 2020. She further noted that the appointment of an official liaison to deal with the complainant in this instance would have been “a modest but helpful intervention”.
In a summation of its decision, the WRC concluded that an Irish Sign Language interpreter was an essential aid to a deaf person, and that the bank’s failure to consider this amounted to indirect discrimination on the grounds of disability.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
by Creagh Joy Solicitors | Jul 5, 2022 | Legal News
The long-awaited Birth Information and Tracing Bill has been signed into law by President Michael D Higgins.
The bill, which will enable adopted people, those who were boarded out, those who had their birth illegally registered, as well as people who have questions regarding their origins to access their information, representing landmark legislation that has been welcomed by the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI).
Free Counselling and Support Services
In addition to the establishment of the new law, it will be accompanied by a wide range of measures to address issues arising for people affected by illegal birth registration. Such services will include a Contact Preference Register, operated by the AAI, as well as an extensive scope of free counselling and support services for those who have been affected by the issues that the bill addresses.
To promote awareness of the new law and services provided, a public information campaign has been launched that will include delivery of an information booklet to every household in Ireland. The campaign, which will run for three months, will also engage with Ireland’s embassy network around the world to reach those who live abroad and are affected by the legislation.
As of the bill’s signing on Friday, 1st July, applications can be submitted to the Contact Preference Register by those wishing to make contact, to request privacy, or to seek or share information with a relative. Both information and tracing services under the legislation will open in October of this year.
Determination to Support People
Speaking of the impact that the new bill would have for those who have been affected, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said that there is a determination to support people to answer questions that remain unanswered to date.
“In October, when all affected persons will be able to avail of these new provisions that will allow unfettered access to their birth information, we will be able to see the positive and hugely significant impact of this legislation,” he said.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
by Creagh Joy Solicitors | Jun 30, 2022 | Legal News
The government is set to introduce new legislation that will ban the hospitality industry from implementing service charges on bills unless the charge goes directly to the staff.
Tips Bill
The amendment to the Payments of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022, more commonly referred to as the ‘Tips Bill’, will be put forward in the Seanad by Damien English of Fine Gael, Junior Minister for Business, Employment and Retail.
Under the terms of the amendment, which the government hopes to approve prior to the summer recess, bars and restaurants will be banned from including mandatory service charges if they are not treated in the same way as tips and gratuities are for wait staff and servers. The new law will also state that any additional charges included on a bill or receipt that are not going to these workers are to be stated clearly to paying customers for their reference.
Speaking about the amendments to the bill, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “Our overall objective with the Bill is to prevent employers from using tips or gratuities to make up basic wages and to introduce transparency about how tips and service charges are distributed.”
Must be Explicit About Additional Charges
The Tánaiste went on to add: “I’m happy we’ve been able to come up with a solution now, which will effectively ban employers from using the term ‘service charge’ or any similar term, unless the money goes straight to staff. Employers must be explicit about any additional charge and where it goes, once this new law comes into force.”
The Restaurants Association of Ireland responded positively to news of the new law, stating that it would provide transparency for consumers and employees of all sectors in which tips, gratuities and service charges, and other additional charges are applied.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
by Creagh Joy Solicitors | Jun 16, 2022 | Legal News, Personal Injury
Dunnes Stores has lost in its appeal against an award of €83,000 in damages to a woman who slipped and fell in one of its stores.
Oil-Like Substance on Shop Floor
The award was made to a 60-year-old woman following her fall at one of the chain’s outlets in the Ashleaf Shopping Centre in Walkinstown, Dublin 12, in June of 2013. In December of 2020, Mr Justice Michael Hanna of the High Court found in favour of the complainant, concluding that she had fallen due to a small amount of an oil-like substance on the supermarket floor. He further noted that the woman’s injuries, which included soft tissue damage to her knees, had not been overstated or embellished.
In a judgment on behalf of the three-judge Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said that the crux of Dunnes’ appeal centred on the supposed lack of evidence for the judge to conclude there had been a contaminant on the floor that caused the accident. It further contested that the complainant had not originally stated that there was a substance on the ground, and that Dunnes was therefore called upon to argue against a case that had not been made.
However, Justice Noonan refuted this reasoning, saying that Dunnes should have applied for an adjournment if it felt it would be prejudiced at the trial when the complainant sought to amend her account in light of new evidence. Dunnes was not being asked to meet an entirely new case, Justice Noonan said, noting that the woman had always attested her fall was the result of an extremely slippery floor. The difference now was that the complainant said it was due to a spillage as opposed to an overly polished floor.
“Misconceived” Argument
According to Justice Noonan, it was a “misconceived” argument to say that the trial judge in the original case was not entitled to infer, in the absence of direct evidence, that there was a slippery substance on the floor, adding that he too would have drawn “precisely the same inferences”.
On behalf of the three-judge Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Noonan dismissed the case brought by Dunnes in its entirety.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
by Creagh Joy Solicitors | Jun 14, 2022 | Legal News
The case represents the first prosecution of its type relating to image-based abuse, more commonly referred to as ‘revenge porn’, to come before the courts in Galway. A 27-year-old man has been jailed for nine months after posting explicit images of his ex-girlfriend to porn websites.
Garda Paraic Moran described to the Galway District Court how the victim had been very upset when she first made the complaint to him, discovering that intimate photos she had sent to her boyfriend while together were uploaded to the sites shortly after their relationship ended.
‘Friend’ Requests from Stangers
After googling her own name following numerous ‘friend’ requests from strangers on a daily basis on platforms such as Snapchat and Facebook, she discovered that the photos sent to her ex-partner had been uploaded to multiple porn websites, alongside contact details with links to her Facebook and Snapchat accounts.
While the woman could not be identified from the photographs themselves, Garda Moran explained that social media profiles had been posted with them and they identified her.
Garda Moran went on to say that the perpetrator took these actions for a number of reasons, including that, after the break-up, there were rumours going that the woman had also sent an intimate picture of him to a mutual friend group chat. Although this was admitted by his ex-partner, who stated that they were still in a relationship at the time, she apologised to her boyfriend and took the photo down when she realised he was upset by it.
While the relationship continued for a long time after this, the man uploaded the explicit images to the internet once the relationship had ended.
Sites Refused to Remove Images
Garda Moran further stated that the victim had to contact numerous websites in order to have the images taken down. She had to say she was underage for some of the sites to take them down, while some sites refused to remove them altogether, he said.
Judge Mary Fahy, who described the victim as being viewed as a “a piece of meat” on these websites, imposed a custodial nine-month sentence in light of the seriousness of the offence, as well as to send a firm message that such offending would be treated seriously by the courts.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
