2006 saw a significant number of changes to the criminal law in Ireland with human rights law and a changing system of criminal justice increasingly coming into conflict. These changes culminated with the appointment, during 2006, of a Criminal Law Review Group, mandated to assess whether a ‘rebalancing’ of rights was needed as between victim and accused in the Irish legal system. Much of the ‘rebalancing’ agenda had already borne fruit in legislative changes introduced throughout the year.
