Advisory Committee established to identify candidates to be appointed as President of the High Court

The government has agreed a process for the nomination of a person to be appointed as President of the High Court, the third most senior position within the judiciary.

 

This announcement follows the news earlier this month that the President of the High Court, the Honourable Ms Justice Mary Irvine will retire at the end of this court term, in July 2022. President Irvine was appointed as President of the High Court on 18 June 2020.

Advisory Committee
 
A non-statutory Advisory Committee will be established to assist with identifying eligible and qualified persons, including serving judges, for the post of President of the High Court. 
 
The Committee, comprising of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General and a lay member, will establish procedures for inviting and assessing expressions of interest from applicants. The Committee will be tasked with considering applicants suitability and will make recommendations to the Minister for Justice on preferred candidates.
 
The procedures of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board ("JAAB"), as set out in the Courts and Courts Officers Act, 1995, as amended, do not apply to the appointment of the President of the High Court.
 
The establishment of this Advisory Committee is similar to the process implemented for the appointment of previous senior judicial positions, to include the appointment of the President of the Court of Appeal in 2018, the President of the High Court in 2020 and more recently, the President of the District Court in 2021 and the Chief Justice in 2021.
 

Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022 
 
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022 was approved by Government in March 2022. The Bill proposes to reform the way judges are appointed and will cover all judicial offices in the Irish courts. It is envisaged that this legislation will establish a Judicial Appointments Commission, which will be chaired by the Chief Justice, replacing JAAB.
 

Honourable Ms Justice Mary Irvine
 
Honourable Ms Justice Mary Irvine was appointed a judge of the High Court in 2007 before becoming a judge of the Court of Appeal in 2014 and subsequently served as a judge of the Supreme Court. President Irvine's appointment as President of the High Court was momentous as she was the first woman to be appointed as President of the High Court and the first person in the history of the State to hold a fourth judicial office.