ACJRD hosted a Christmas networking event and seminar, "Heading towards a federal criminal justice system? Past, present and future of EU Justice", in the Law Society of Ireland on Monday, 11 December, 2023.
In collaboration with the European Judicial Network, the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development hosted this networking event and seminar. ACJRD was very pleased to collaborate with Hugh Dockry, Secretary to the European Judicial Network, who presented on "Heading towards a federal criminal justice system? Past, present and future of EU Justice".
About the seminar
The Maastricht Treaty was signed by the 12 Member States of the European Economic Community, including Ireland, in February 1992 and came into effect on 1st of November 1993. The agreement led to greater policy cooperation and coordination with a common citizenship and free travel. It also brought changes to what became ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ as a necessary corollary to the improved coordination between Member States including in law enforcement and the judiciary.
The Tampere Programme (Finland, 1999), followed by the Stockholm Programme (Sweden, 2009,) provided the impetus from the Member States to create the legal and practical frameworks to ensure the ‘Area of Freedom, Security and Justice’ remained a reality within which people, goods, services and capital could flow and remain subject to laws applied equally throughout the Union. From the original 12 Member States the current membership is 27. This brings many challenges as has been evident by Brexit and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
This seminar will look at the development of the criminal justice system of the EU, from the early days when the European Judicial Network was established (1998), to the present when there are numerous legal and judicial cooperation entities with growing powers and rights provided by the surrender of some national sovereignty by the Member States.
You can download a copy of Hugh Dockry’s presentation here.
Hugh Dockry qualified in 2002 while working in Gleeson, McGrath Baldwin and commenced working in the Chief State Solicitor’s Office (CSSO) in early 2005. From late 2005 he was Solicitor to the Morris Tribunal, returning to the CSSO in 2008 in the Justice and Crime Section with responsibility for incoming EAWs, extradition and other judicial cooperation instruments. From February 2017, until leaving to join the Department of Justice in late 2018, Hugh was responsible for the Section. While working in the Department in the Criminal Justice Legislation Division he was seconded as a Seconded National Expert (SNE) to DG JUST of the Commission with responsibility for the EAW and other judicial cooperation instruments. After returning briefly to the Department he returned to work as an SNE with the Justice and Home Affairs Legal Service of the Commission from where he moved to take up his current position, in January 2023, as Secretary to the European Judicial Network and Head of the Secretariat within Eurojust.
Event details
Date: Monday, 11 December 2023, 5.30pm to 7pm
Location: Blue Room, Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7, D07 VY24
- This event was free for ACJRD members and €10 to non-members of ACJRD. Should you wish to, you can take out membership here.
- CPD Points: Attendance at the event may qualify for CPD points. Qualification is determined by the points’ issuer. ACJRD is happy to provide certificates of attendance on request. For GDPR purposes, attendance lists will be deleted after 12 months and it will no longer be possible to provide certificates of attendance after that. Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request a certificate of attendance.
The Chatham House Rule:
To encourage openness and the sharing of information, the Chatham House Rule was invoked at this seminar.
*The Chatham House Rule reads as follows: "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed".
See: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule