Professor Emerita of Law at University College Cork Carline Fennell is to chair the board of Cuan, the new agency being set up to tackle domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence.

The board members announced by the Minister for Justice also include solicitor Claire Loftus (pictured), a retired public servant who served a ten-year term as the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Other members

Prof Fennell is currently a Commissioner of An Coimisiún Toghcháin and served as a commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission from 2018 to 2023.

Conor Hanly (Assistant Professor of Law at University of Galway) has also been appointed after an open competition. His main academic interest is in the field of criminal law, and especially the issue of sexual and domestic violence.

The other board members are:

• Sarah Benson (Chief Executive of Women’s Aid),
• Molly Buckley (public-health nurse and member of the Mental Health Tribunal),
• Denise Charlton (Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland), and
• Vivian Geiran (adjunct assistant professor and lecturer in criminology and probation on the MSW and BSS programmes at Trinity College Dublin).

The appointments are effective from 4 April 2024. In the interests of future continuity, members will be appointed for a period of either three or four years.