Every friend group eventually acquires a lawyer. They do not necessarily have a law degree. In fact, they may never have attended a law lecture in their life. But when a bouncer refuses someone entry or a landlord keeps your deposit, three weeks into first year, they are apparently qualified to advise: “They literally can’t do that”.
At this point, actual law students usually have two options: attempt to explain why the answer is more complicated, or quietly leave the conversation. Studying law comes with the unfortunate side effect of everyone you know asking you whether things are legal. One of the first things you learn is that the answer to almost every interesting legal question is deeply unsatisfying: it depends.
Every day, legal wisdom tends to be much more decisive with the irresistible authority of someone saying, “No, seriously, I’m pretty sure that’s the law”.
They are neat rules. They are memorable. They would also make studying law considerably easier if they were true. One thing that most of these claims have in common is that they sound just plausible enough to be repeated as fact. Add a few episodes of Suits, TikTok advice and whatever your friend heard from someone whose dad is a solicitor, and it is surprisingly easy to pick up an understanding of the ‘law’, one that has very little to do with the law that actually applies in Ireland.
So, in the interests of saving everyone from confidently misinforming their housemates this semester, here are some of the most common legal myths students believe and what Irish law actually says.
This article is intended for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. The application of Irish law will depend on the particular facts and circumstances.
Myth #1: “If I didn’t sign anything, there’s no agreement”.
This one is particularly relevant when the annual nightmare of finding student accommodation begins. A signature is obviously excellent evidence that an agreement exists, but the absence of one does not automatically mean there is no legal relationship. The Residential Tenancies Board expressly recognises that a tenancy agreement can be written, verbal or implied. What matters is the substance of the arrangement, not simply whether everyone has put pen to paper. So, “I never signed anything” is not the legal get-out-of-jail-free card people sometimes imagine it to be. It also works both ways.
If you are renting, having things in writing is still a very good idea. Nobody wants to find themselves reconstructing an important agreement from three Revolut transactions and a WhatsApp message saying “grand, see you in September”.
Myth #2: “My landlord owns the house, so they can come in whenever they want”.
This may be one of the more useful myths for students to have cleared up. If you are a tenant covered by the Residential Tenancies Act, you have a right to peaceful and exclusive occupation of your rented home. The RTB states that a landlord may enter only with the tenant’s permission, except in an emergency. Tenants must, of course, be reasonable about allowing appropriate access, for example, for inspections or repairs.
The important caveat for students is that not every accommodation arrangement is legally a tenancy. For example, someone living in their landlord’s own home may instead be a licensee, and different rules can apply. In other words, your landlord owning the property does not mean your bedroom is available for surprise inspections at 8 a.m.
Myth #3: “If I find something, it’s mine”.
Finding an AirPod case on the floor of the library does not invoke the time-honoured legal doctrine of ‘finders keepers’. Under section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, theft involves dishonestly appropriating property without the owner’s consent with the intention of depriving the owner of it. Interestingly, the Act specifically deals with found property. A person does not appropriate property without consent where they genuinely believe that the owner cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps. Those last three words matter. There is clearly a difference between finding an unidentifiable object and finding a wallet containing someone’s student card, bank cards, and, effectively, their entire identity.
Myth #4: “If it’s on Google or Instagram, I can use it”.
As anyone who has ever desperately searched Google Images five minutes before a presentation will be disappointed to learn, being online does not mean being copyright-free. In Ireland, copyright protection is generally automatic. The Intellectual Property Office of Ireland explains that copyright can protect photographs, writing, music, films, software and other original works, and gives the copyright owner rights over acts such as copying and making the work available to the public. There are legal exceptions, including certain forms of fair dealing for purposes such as criticism, review, news reporting, research and private study. “I found it online” is not itself one of them.
Myth #5: “GDPR means you can’t take a photo of me without my consent”.
GDPR, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, may be one of the most confidently misunderstood pieces of law in Ireland. According to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, there is nothing in the GDPR that simply prohibits people from taking photographs in public. Provided you are not harassing anyone, taking photographs of people in public is generally allowed.
What happens to the photograph afterwards is a different story. A photograph of an identifiable person can constitute personal data. If, for example, an image is publicly posted or used commercially, data protection obligations may arise. Unfortunately, seeing somebody holding a phone camera at a college event does not give you grounds to dramatically shout “GDPR!” across the room.
Myth #6: “It can’t be defamation if I said it online”.
The law has, in fact, heard of the internet. Ireland’s defamation legislation expressly mentions statements communicated online and electronically. Irish defamation law was also significantly amended in 2026. The wider point for students is that posting something on TikTok, Instagram, a society page, or elsewhere online does not put it into a separate legal universe. Nor does prefacing something with “allegedly” automatically make you untouchable. Given how quickly anonymous college confession pages, group chats and social-media rumours can spread, perhaps the safest rule is also the least exciting, and that is to think before you post.
Myth #7: “If I didn’t know it was illegal, I can’t get in trouble”.
Finally, the ultimate legal myth, “But I didn’t know”.
As every first-year law student eventually discovers, ignorance of the law is generally not a defence. Otherwise, the easiest defence to almost any offence would be simply insisting that you had never heard of the relevant legislation.
Perhaps the real lesson from all seven myths is that law rarely fits into the one-liners we give it. The answer is very often “it depends,” which is simultaneously the most annoying answer a law student can give and quite often the correct one.
Anna Portada O’Driscoll – Law Correspondent