A leading law lecturer has questioned the legality of the actions of gardai in enforcing restrictions against religious gatherings during the current level 5 lockdown.

Oran Doyle is a professor in law at Trinity College Dublin and director of the COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory.

He was part of a team that produced a recent report by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission on “Ireland’s Emergency Powers During the Covid-19 Pandemic”.

In a follow-up blog post yesterday, he commented on media reports of the gardaí threatening prosecution of those who organise or attend religious services. He reviewed the two grounds on which it could be argued that a criminal offence is committed in this context, and he rejected both.