Monday 30 March —Ireland’s performance in protecting the rule of law is stagnating, with persistent failures to implement key EU recommendations and concerning legislative proposals raising alarm in civil society, according to a report published today by Brussels-based human rights watchdog Liberties and compiled by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL).
Speaking today, Claire Mc Evoy, Head of Research and Policy, ICCL, said:
“For the second consecutive year, Ireland has been categorised in Liberties’ report as a rule of law ‘stagnator’, reflecting the absence of meaningful legislative or structural reform across core rule of law areas, including the justice system, anti-corruption, media freedom and institutional checks and balances. Despite repeated recommendations from the European Commission, government progress remains limited or entirely absent. Ireland’s continued failure to act risks entrenching systemic weaknesses and undermines the credibility of the rule of law monitoring process itself.
“ICCL and many in civil society are very concerned about a number of government legislative proposals. Plans to curtail access to judicial review, presented as a measure to accelerate housing and infrastructure delivery, risk fundamentally weakening access to justice and limiting the ability of individuals and communities to hold the State to account. These proposals, alongside measures that may erode journalistic protections, signal a troubling direction of travel. Taken together, the lack of progress and emerging problem areas sound an alarm bell for civil society. This isn’t a good look for a state taking over the presidency of the EU in July and campaigning for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council on a “rule of law and civic space” platform.”
According to the report, government’s responses to scrutiny and engagement with civil society have often been vague and lacking in substance, mirroring broader trends of limited transparency and accountability. The bypassing of pre-legislative scrutiny for bills and poor responses to parliamentary questions have been cited as particularly concerning.
The report states that Ireland is at risk of having its performance downgraded in next year’s report. Without decisive corrective action, Ireland risks further erosion of its rule of law framework and declining standing within the EU as a bastion of democracy and rule of law.
EU context
The report forms part of an EU-wide analysis published by Liberties today based on 22 country reports from across the EU. The EU report confirms an ongoing deterioration in the rule of law across Europe. Five countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia – are found to be consistently and internationally weakening rule of law, with Hungary aggressively pursuing ever more regressive laws and policies.
The report classifies countries as ‘dismantlers’ (consistently and intentionally weakening the rule of law), ‘sliders’ (democratic standards in decline without being part of a clear political strategy), ‘stagnators’ (rule-of-law conditions do not improve or worsen significantly) and ‘hard workers’ (countries where governments actively seek meaningful improvements in rule-of-law standards).
In this year’s report, just one country (Latvia) is considered a hard worker. 10 countries are considered stagnators; six are sliders and five are dismantlers.
European Commission implementation gap
The EU report is critical of the European Commission’s Rule of Law Cycle for failing to achieve its stated preventive aim of promoting the rule of law.
The Commission publishes annual rule of law reports for Member States with recommendations for action. However, Liberties’ report finds that Member States are largely failing to actively engage with recommendations and commit to tangible action. 93% of all 2025 recommendations were repetitions from previous years, with only nine new recommendations introduced.
This year, Liberties members assessed 100 recommendations from 2025, covering 22 Member States. A total of 61% show no progress or no visible progress, and 13% were deemed to be backsliding. No recommendations were found to have been fully implemented.
“The steady backsliding, and in some cases rapid decline, clearly shows that without a more consequential approach, the trend will continue”, the report warns.
ENDS
Notes to editors
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About the Liberties Rule of Law report
This is the seventh edition of Liberties’ annual Rule of Law report, which monitors the state of rule of law in the EU, looking in particular at justice systems, anti-corruption frameworks, media freedom, and checks and balances. The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) is a non-governmental civil society organisation promoting the civil liberties of everyone in the EU, and it is built on a network of national civil liberties groups from across the EU.
www.liberties.eu