Privacy Law in Ireland by Róisín Á Costello

• Date: 01 January 2024
• Author: Julia Launders

178

Privacy Law in Ireland

JULIA LAUNDERS

Privacy Law in Ireland by Róisín Á Costello (Bloomsbury Professional, 2023)

Whilst the value of privacy in society and daily life is a fundamental assumption

for many of us, dening privacy and its scope, both conceptually and in Irish legal

practice, is a far from settled endeavour. Dr Costello herself recounts the challenge

both academics and courts have encountered in articulating the nature and scope

of privacy, and the right to same under law,1 but aptly takes up the mantle of doing

so herself in this book. Privacy Law in Ireland is a welcome modern addition

to understanding the breadth of the concept of privacy and all that it entails,

from a review of its origins, current sources and character under Irish law. It is a

helpful examination of the right to privacy for practitioners and students, oering

guidance on understanding the Irish approach to same. Whilst the case law on the

right to privacy continues to grow since the publication of the book, this text still

usefully serves those seeking to understand the extent to which privacy claims can

be advanced in the Irish courts.

Given the various legal sources of the right to privacy, the book is structured in

three main parts, each of which seeks to untangle the various privacy rights at stake

and their relationship with each other. Within Part I, Chapter 1 introduces the

concept of privacy by tracing its origins for the reader, from its classical roots to its

emergence as a human right. It also serves to highlight to readers the articiality of

the private and public law distinction when it comes to privacy. Chapter 2 sets the

conceptual foundation for the book by outlining the contested nature of privacy

and the competing theories on same. Against this backdrop, the author oers their

own distillation of privacy through three contextual genres – personal privacy,

spatial privacy and informational privacy – through which the remainder of the

book is analysed.

Part II examines the sources of privacy rights in Irish law. ere is throughout

all the chapters consideration of the textual sources, or lack thereof, of a right to

privacy, against its interpretative impact by various courts. ere is also conscious

consideration of the impact of procedure on the right and the role remedies play

to breaches of the right under each relevant source of law. Starting rst with the

European inuence, the author looks to the European Convention on Human

Rights (‘ECHR’) and then the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European

Union (‘CFR’). Given the contextual approach, the author helpfully places the

inuence and importance of these European guarantees, not only on Irish law,

1 Róisín Á Costello, Privacy Law in Ireland (Bloomsbury Professional 2023) 25–26.

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