European law vs. Irish Law

wild_eyed

what holds the most power, and how can i use them both together to my advantage as an employee.

like does european law hold more juristiction over ireland?

LFCFan

correct me if I'm wrong but isn't VRT illegal in the eyes of Europe? If this is the case then I wouldn't hold much hope of using European law to get anywhere in Ireland.

seamus

Originally posted by wild_eyed
what holds the most power, and how can i use them both together to my advantage as an employee.

like does european law hold more juristiction over ireland?

It's all bit of a rich mixture. EU directives decide which we way we *should* have some laws and regulations, in order to bring all of Europe into alignment on major issues.

EU law is usually in power when challenging your Government, or in a situation where law on a certain issue does not exist in your own country. Even then, it can be at the discretion of the Irish courts.

The country's law always overrules EU laws though.

(AFAIK)

sovtek

Originally posted by LFCFan
correct me if I'm wrong but isn't VRT illegal in the eyes of Europe? If this is the case then I wouldn't hold much hope of using European law to get anywhere in Ireland.

I agree, although I think that the EU has given Ireland an extension on the VRT but still deems it illegal. All the good it does for the average person in Ireland.

ciderandhavoc

In terms of legislation and that, European laws are actually held over our constitution. Thats why we had to amend our constitution, to allow superior laws from outside of the state.

johnKarma

Originally posted by seamus
It's all bit of a rich mixture. EU directives decide which we way we *should* have some laws and regulations, in order to bring all of Europe into alignment on major issues.

EU law is usually in power when challenging your Government, or in a situation where law on a certain issue does not exist in your own country. Even then, it can be at the discretion of the Irish courts.

The country's law always overrules EU laws though.

(AFAIK)

Nope. The short answer is that European Law is superior both to Irish law and the Irish Constitution. This superiority can be explained with reference to three cases of the European Court of Justice: Costa, Van Gend en Loos, and Internationale Handelsgesellschaft (it's easy to look them up.) Their combined effect is that the European treaties have created "their own legal system which…became an integral part of the legal systems of the Member States and which their courts are bound to apply". Accordingly, laws "stemming from the Treaty…cannot…be overridden by rules of national law" even if they run "counter to either fundamental rights [in]…the constitution of the State or the principles of a national constitutional structure." Pretty definitive.

wild_eyed

Originally posted by johnKarma
Accordingly, laws "stemming from the Treaty…cannot…be overridden by rules of national law" even if they run "counter to either fundamental rights [in]…the constitution of the State or the principles of a national constitutional structure." Pretty definitive.

i dont fully understand.

johnKarma

Originally posted by wild_eyed
i dont fully understand.

Basically what that sentence means is that if a European law "stemming from the treaty" (ie within one of the domains in which the EU is allowed to legislate) runs counter to an Irish law or the Irish Constitution, the European law prevails.