Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Nov 2000

Vol. 525 No. 2

Written Answers. - Judicial Appointments.

Nora Owen

Question:

780 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of women serving on the District, High and Supreme Courts; the date of each appointment; and the location of the court in which each are serving. [23958/00]

Nora Owen

Question:

781 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of women appointed as judges in each of the courts since July 1997; the date of each appointment; and the location of each court in which each of the women are serving. [23959/00]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

I propose to take Questions Nos. 780 and 781 together.

As the Deputy is aware these appointments are a matter of public record, but, for ease of reference, the following is a list of women judges serving on all the courts together with their appointment dates and the court on which they are currently serving:

Supreme Court (2)

Susan Denham	Supreme Ct. 11/12/1993High Ct. 12/4/1991
Catherine McGuinness	Supreme Ct. 7/2/2000High Ct. 9/7/1996Circuit Ct. 28/2/1994

High Court (2)

Mella Carroll	6/10/1980
Mary Laffoy	24/4/1995

Circuit Court (5)

Alison Lindsay	22/7/1996	Dublin
Elizabeth Dunne	22/7/1996	Dublin
Olive Buttimer	4/9/1996	South-Eastern Cir.
Jacqueline Linnane	28/5/1997	Unassigned
Yvonne Murphy	17/4/1998	Dublin

District Court (9)

Mary Devins	20/10/1998	Dist. No. 3
Mary Fahy	18/10/1993	Dist. No. 4
Mary O'Halloran	21/10/1992	Dist. No. 13
Mary Martin	21/11/1983	Dist. No. 15
Gillian Hussey	9/4/1984	Dublin Met. District
Clare Leonard	18/12/1992	Dublin Met. District
Catherine Murphy	24/10/1996	Dublin Met. District
Mary Collins	24/10/1996	Dublin Met. District
Miriam Malone	24/3/1997	Dublin Met. District

For the Deputy's additional information, Judge Fidelma Macken was appointed to the High Court on 9 December 1998 but subsequently resigned on 5 October 1999 to take up a Government nomination as a judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the first woman to be appointed to that court.