Founded on 30 June 1976 by future President Mary Robinson, Kader Asmal and others.

The ICCL has repeatedly sought the abolition of the Special Criminal Court, and in 2009 opposed its expansion from a narrow focus on state security-related trials to also include organised crime.

[5] In January 2020, the ICCL criticised management at CBS Kilkenny for attempting to implement facial recognition technology to record and process the biometric data of children and staff in the school.

[6] In May 2020 ICCL suggested that Gardaí using spit hood during the COVID-19 pandemic might be "inhumane and degrading".

The ICCL also called for the freedom of expression defence in the legislation to be strengthened, observing the precedence set by European courts which stresses that while content may be shocking or offensive, it is not necessarily hateful.