Judicial Appointments

Up to 20 new High Court judges are still required to deal with Covid backlogs, the president of the High Court has said. During a preliminary hearing yesterday, Mrs Justice Mary Irvine said the court "is short about 18 or 20 judges at the moment and we have arrears across all divisions", the Irish I

Mr Justice Brian Murray has been nominated by ministers for appointment to the Supreme Court. A judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2019, his appointment would fill the long-standing vacancy arising from the retirement of Mr Justice Liam McKechnie in April 2019.

Kerida Naidoo SC has been nominated for appointment as an ordinary judge of the High Court. His appointment will increase the size of the bench, having been appointed to fill a vacancy created under section 8 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021, which allows the statutory complement

Sitting judges seeking promotion will have to complete special training to be considered eligible as part of proposed reforms to the judicial appointments process. Justice minister Helen McEntee is expected to publish her proposals for long-awaited reform of the judicial appointments process early t

Irish legal academic Professor Suzanne Kingston SC has been appointed as a judge of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Professor Kingston has been a member of faculty at UCD Sutherland School of Law since 2007. Since 2015, she has led a major European Research Co

Siobhan Phelan SC has been nominated by ministers for appointment as an ordinary judge of the High Court. Her appointment was approved alongside that of Judge Karen O'Connor and Conor Dignam SC, whose nominations for appointment to the High Court were confirmed earlier this week.

Ministers have nominated Judge Karen O'Connor and Conor Dignam SC for appointment to the High Court. Judge O'Connor is a Circuit Court judge in Dublin, while Mr Dignam is a practising barrister who called to the Bar in 1996 and the Inner Bar in 2011.

Future applicants for judicial office in Northern Ireland have been invited to help pilot a new online testing and assessment system. The Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission (NIJAC) is exploring the utility of using online platforms for testing and assessment and also as a mitigation m

The heads of the Bar and the Law Society should be considered for inclusion in the membership of the proposed new Judicial Appointments Commission, the Oireachtas justice committee has recommended. The joint committee on justice has completed pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Jud

A public consultation has been opened to seek the views of the public on issues relating to judicial resources, including the number of judges needed in Ireland over the next five years. Responses to the consultation will be considered by the new judicial planning working group headed by Brigid McMa

Five senior barristers who were nominated last month for appointment as High Court judges will not sit on the bench until November at the earliest, the president of the High Court has said. Caroline Biggs SC, Marguerite Bolger SC, Emily Egan SC, Cian Ferriter SC and David Holland SC were nominated i

Judicial salaries in Northern Ireland and across the UK have been frozen for a year, new figures from the Ministry of Justice show. The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan, received a salary of £234,184 in 2019. This rose to £238,868 last year but has remained the s

European affairs minister Thomas Byrne has said the government is taking EU criticism of the low number of Irish judges "very, very seriously". Speaking at a virtual meeting hosted by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) yesterday morning, Mr Byrne said the judicial planning working group an

Five senior barristers have been nominated for appointment as High Court judges in a bid to clear the Covid-19 backlog. Caroline Biggs SC, Marguerite Bolger SC, Emily Egan SC, Cian Ferriter SC and David Holland SC will take up the new seats on the High Court bench created through legislation earlier

Irish judge Anthony Collins has been appointed as an Advocate-General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Judge Collins was nominated by the Irish government earlier this summer to fill the vacancy created by its appointment of Advocate-General Gerard Hogan to the Irish Supreme Cou