Explain what is meant by both ratio decidendi and obiter dictum. Using an example from any area of law you have studied, show (with reference to decided cases) how the doctrine of precedent has been applied in the Irish courts.

Trace how the concept of the ‘supremacy of EU law’ was developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union (the European Court of Justice)

The legal doctrine of supremacy of EU law means that EU labour law takes precedence over domestic labour law. The creation of a new legal order of EU law and its supremacy means that EU institutions may create rules affecting employment and industrial relations, even where some Member States oppose such rules and vote against them in those EU institutions, provided that a voting procedure based on a majority rule applies to that specific field. Where adopted, these rules must be enforced in national courts, even where this involves overriding rules produced by domestic law-making institutions. In the course of time, national constitutional courts have accepted the principles of supremacy of the EU law affirmed by the European Court of Justice, but at the same time they have envisaged a limit to it in the fundamental principles of each national constitution.