Centre for European Policy Studies Funding for School of Law Researchers Awarded

Professor Laura Cahillane, Dr Jamie McLoughlin, and Dara O’Brien (PhD candidate) have been awarded funding by the Centre for European Policy Studies to contribute to a major research project under a competitively awarded European Parliament framework contract in constitutional and legal affairs. The project forms part of an extensive, multi-country research programme delivered by a consortium of leading European institutions. It examines the principle of the free mandate from a comparative constitutional law perspective, covering all 27 EU Member States, as well as the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland. 

The study explores the scope and operation of parliamentary rules and procedures, with particular focus on how the free mandate interacts with key issues such as accountability, political integrity, transparency, and the regulation of hate speech by members of parliament.