293 / 462
GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1992
Inevitably, this raises the question as
to whether it is time for the General
Council of the Bar of Ireland to
consider compiling a similiar
directory in Ireland in addition to
their entry in the Law Directory
published by the Law Society.
At £85.00 stg, Havers' Companion
to the Bar would be an expensive
purchase for the average Irish
solicitor except for one who does
business regularly with firms in
England and Wales and would like
to cross check on their choice of
counsel.
Barbara Cahalane
Irish Journal of European Law
(Incorporating the Journal of the
Irish Society for European Law).
Edited by James O'Reilly and
Anthony M. Collins IThe Round
Hall Press, 1992 £45 (postage
included)].
The 1992 volume of the newly
published Irish Journal of European
Law contains a number of valuable
articles and reports of decisions of
the Irish courts in which points of
European law have arisen.
The Law Reports section of the
Journal is divided into two sections.
Section one contains cases from
1984-1989, previously unreported in a
series of Irish Law Reports, while
section two contains head notes of
1989 cases previously reported in a
series of Irish Law Reports.
The following articles are published
in the Journal:-
• Application in Ireland of the
Directives on Public Procurement
by Mary Robinson (the article
was written prior to her election
as President of Ireland);
• Fiscal Harmonisation in Ireland
by Nuala Butler;
• Irish Competition Law and
Concentration of Undertakings
Control
by Jeremy Maher;
• The application of Community
Law in Ireland 1973-1989
by
Anthony M. Collins and James
O'Reilly;
• The Availability of Interim Relief
in National Courts to Uphold
Community Law Rights
by
Anthony M. Collins; and
• Procedure and Practice and the
Judgements Convention: Some
Further Developments
by Ge r a rd
Hogan.
The first three of the above articles
on public procurement, fiscal
harmonisation and competition
constitute the Irish National Reports
prepared for the 14th Congress of
FIDE (Fedération Internationale
pour le Droit Européen), held in
1990.
The article on public procurement
details the application in Ireland of
EC Directives relating to public
works contracts and public supply
contracts and highlights the
unsatisfactory nature of
implementing EC Directives by way
of administrative circular. The article
on fiscal harmonisation describes
progress to June 1991 towards
harmonisation of indirect taxes at
EC level and the legal basis for
same. Jeremy Maher's article
presents a concise exposition of
competition law in Ireland prior to
entry into force of the Competition
Act, 1991.
Anthony M. Collins and James
O'Reilly's article on the application
of Community law in Ireland
1973-1989 commences by
summarising the historical
background of the Constitution and
then proceeds to examine the
application of Community law under
three headings, namely; the
incorporation of Community law
into Irish Law, access to and
availability of Community law and
compliance by the State with
Community law.
In describing the availability of
interim relief to uphold Community
law rights and in particular the
power of national courts to put a
stay on the execution of a national
Act implementing a Community
Regulation, Anthony M. Collins'
article highlights the importance of
lawyers being aware of the potential
application of Community law to
any given set of facts.
Gerard Hogan's article considers the
implications of decisions in three
important cases dealing with
procedural issues under the
Judgements Convention and
demonstrates the need for greater
uniformity in approach in resolving
procedural issues under the
Convention.
In general all articles are well written
and will serve as useful sources of
reference to students and
practitioners alike.
DonncadhWoods
Law Reform Commission Report
on the Crime of Libel
(LRC 41-1991 £4.00 20pp, paperback).
Of the three discussion papers
published by the Law Reform
Commission during 1991 examining
the law of defamation and contempt,
the paper on the crime of libel
attracted the least public attention
and response. In their final Report
on the Crime of Libel, the Law
Reform Commissioners note that the
National Newspapers of Ireland was
the only body to furnish written
submissions on the consultation
paper. The Commissioners comment
that this is not particularly
surprising since the subject is of
small practical importance today and
would hardly have merited such
extensive examination had it not
been included in the then Attorney
General's request.
Notwithstanding objections advanced
by the National Newspapers of
Ireland, the Law Reform
Commission has stood by its
principal provisional
recommendation that the common
law offence of defamatory libel
should be retained, albeit in a more
confined form. The Commissioners
269