Although the law relating to 'modern slavery' has received increased attention in recent years, the perspectives of labour trafficking victims rarely feature in the literature. The article explores how this vulnerable group experiences the Irish anti-trafficking regime in practice. Drawing on 15 semi-structured interviews, it shows that victims of labour trafficking in Ireland receive minimal assistance from the State at every stage of the trafficking cycle, from prevention and identification to seeking redress for harms suffered. The lived experiences of the participants cut across the spheres of employment, criminal and immigration law, stretching well beyond the 'silo' of the anti-trafficking framework. The article concludes by suggesting that victims' perspectives are an essential part of evidence-based policy responses to the multi-faceted phenomenon of severe labour exploitation, as well as a comprehensive analytical framework. It agrees that existing critiques of the anti-trafficking paradigm are well-founded, but argues that they should also take account of the practical benefits for individuals who are granted 'victim of trafficking' status.

This policy and practice note will investigate the extent to which Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs) feel that religious expression is respected in Irish prisons and explore the degree to which the Irish Prison Service (IPS) facilitates these prisoners’ religious dietary preferences. Drawing on 82 semi-structured interviews across eight prisons, the findings demonstrate that while the IPS is generally progressive in accommodating FNPs’ religious needs, provision could be improved in certain respects. The policy and practice note briefly concludes that the IPS could potentially draw on some ‘promising practice’ that has been implemented with respect to religious expression and practice in other European prisons.

No abstract

This article examines the relationship between politically motivated murder, martyrdom, and the death penalty in Britain and Ireland in the period from 1939 to 1990. First, it investigates the nexus between historical experience and memory, political martyrdom, and capital punishment as it applied to Irish Republicans in Britain during the Second World War. Secondly, it examines the use of extraordinary legal powers to impose the death penalty in the Irish state during the "Emergency," and charts the processes through which the threat of capital punishment continued to be perceived as an essential instrument of security in both Irish jurisdictions in the postwar period. Thirdly, it evaluates the effectiveness of the death penalty in deterring politically motivated murder and explores the anomalous, paradoxical decision to abolish capital punishment at the height of subversive killing in Northern Ireland. The essay concludes that the national security issue and the potential martyrdom of Irish Republicans were pivotal factors in dissuading successive British governments from reintroducing the death penalty for politically motivated offenses in Britain and Northern Ireland.