One of three current Supreme Court vacancies is to be filled by Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan, who will in turn be replaced in the Court of Appeal by Justice Paul Gilligan.

Senior counsel David Barniville has also been appointed to the High Court to fill the vacancy arising from the retirement of Justice Margaret Heneghan in October.

The Government has also nominated senior counsel Michael MacGrath to the High Court to replace Justice Henry Abbott who retires on 18 December. 

Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan was educated at University College Dublin, the College of Europe, Bruges, and the Law Society of Ireland. She was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 1973 and called to the Bar in 1980.

Inner Bar

Following a call to the Inner Bar in 1988 she was appointed as a judge of the High Court in 2002 and as a judge of the Court of Appeal following its establishment in 2014.

Justice Paul Gilligan was educated at UCD and the King’s Inns. He was called to the Bar in 1971 and to the Inner Bar in 1984 and appointed to the High Court in 2003.

Mr David Barniville, SC, attended UCD and the King’s Inns and was called to the Inner bar in 2006. He is an accredited mediator and practises primarily in commercial law. He is a Bar Council nominee to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority and Adjunct Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Limerick.

Senior counsel Michael MacGrath was educated at UCD and the King’s Inns and was called to the Inner Bar in 2000. He practises mainly in civil and commercial law. He is an external examiner in the Law of Tort at King’s Inns since 2009.

Nominated

Meanwhile the government has nominated Tony Murphy as the new Irish member of the European Court of Auditors.  He is currently serving as a director of the European Court of Auditors and will succeed Kevin Cardiff in February 2018, for a six-year term.  

Mr Murphy has over 30 years of experience in auditing in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and in the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors.

The European Court of Auditors is the EU's independent external auditor. It checks that EU budgets have been implemented correctly and that EU funds have been raised and spent legally.