Chief Justice of Ireland

The Chief Justice of Ireland (Irish: Príomh-Bhreitheamh na hÉireann) is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland.^[1][2]

Under Constitution of Ireland, the Chief Justice of Ireland also occupies several positions ex officio, these include;

• A possible judge of the High Court.
• A member of the Council of State (a position retained on retirement).
• A member of the Presidential Commission.

Statutory roles

Under s. 2(5) of the Referendum Act 1998, the Chief Justice nominates the chairperson of the Referendum Commission.

List of Chief Justices

No.	Name	Term of office		Nominated by	Appointed by	Notes
1.	Hugh Kennedy	1924	1936	W. T. Cosgrave (4th Dáil)	Timothy Healy	Died in office
2.	Timothy Sullivan	1936	1946	Éamon de Valera (8th Dáil)	Domhnall Ua Buachalla
3.	Conor Maguire	1946	1961	Éamon de Valera (12th Dáil)	Seán T. O'Kelly
4.	Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (Carroll O'Daly)[3]	1961	1973	Seán Lemass (16th Dáil)	Éamon de Valera	Resigned on appointment to the European Court of Justice
5.	William FitzGerald	1973	1974	Jack Lynch (19th Dáil)	Éamon de Valera	Died in office
6.	Tom O'Higgins	1974	1985	Liam Cosgrave (20th Dáil)	Erskine H. Childers	Resigned on appointment to the European Court of Justice
7.	Thomas Finlay	1985	1994	Garret FitzGerald (24th Dáil)	Patrick Hillery
8.	Liam Hamilton	1994	2000	Albert Reynolds (27th Dáil)	Mary Robinson
9.	Ronan Keane	2000	2004	Bertie Ahern (28th Dáil)	Mary McAleese
10.	John L. Murray	2004	2011	Bertie Ahern (29th Dáil)	Mary McAleese
11.	Susan Denham	2011	Incumbent	Enda Kenny (31st Dáil)	Mary McAleese	First woman Chief Justice

Constitution of Ireland and the removal of a judge from office

There is no Twenty-second Amendment. The Twenty-second Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2001 [relating to the removal of a Judge from Office and providing for a body to be established by Law to investigate or cause to be investigated conduct constituting misbehaviour by a Judge or affected by incapacity of a Judge] was not passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas.^[4]

See also

• List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Ireland
• Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
• Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
• Master of the Rolls in Ireland

Notes

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was created under the Courts of Justice Act 1924. Before 1924 the Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland^[5] The Supreme Court sits in the Four Courts. When the Supreme Court sits as it mostly does in two chambers, the second chamber sits in the Hugh Kennedy Court, named after the First Chief Justice.^[6]

References

1. "The Role of the Chief Justice". SupremeCourt.ie. Courts Service. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
2. "Chief Justice of Ireland" is the name under which all Plenary Summonses are issued: "Rules of the Superior Courts, Appendix A, Part I, Form 1". Courts.ie. Courts Service. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
3. During his legal career, Ó Dálaigh was known as Carroll O'Daly. See for instance The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal, vol. 103 (1970), p. 289: "The Chief Justice the Hon. Carroll O'Daly"
4. Constitution of Ireland Pages x-xii
5. Source: The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 by Francis Erlington Ball (ISBN 1846300746)
6. The Supreme Court of Ireland: A History by The Courts Service (ISBN 075571766X)