The European Court of Human Rights: An Irish Perspective Podcast
The podcast delves into the history of the European Court of Human Rights and particularly, Ireland’s integral role.
Featuring a variety of incredible guest speakers from the President of the European Court to the Chief Justice of Ireland, the series explores the impact of the Court on Ireland, as well as Ireland’s impact on the Court.
Listen here or on your podcast platforms via the Council of Europe’s Europe Explained podcast.
Episode 1
Ireland was one of ten founding members of the Council of Europe in 1949 and signed the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950.
This first episode features valuable insights from Ireland’s Judge to the ECtHR Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, Chief Justice of Ireland Dónal O’ Donnell, Professor Eunan O’ Halpin and Associate Professor Niamh Howlin. The series begins with discussions into the history of the Court, Ireland and the Convention.
Episode 2
Irish figures were integral in the development of the Court and contributed to the fundamental jurisprudence of the Cour. The first judgment delivered from an individual case concerned Ireland, as well as the first judgment from an inter-state case.
The second episode hears from Justice Gerard Hogan, Michael O’Boyle, Justice Iseult O’Malley and Former ECtHR President Síofra O’Leary.
Episode 3
The Court had a profound impact on Ireland. ECHtR rulings have shaped Irish history, through social and legal change.
The third and final episode in the series addresses these changes to our country and our history, speaking with Justice Brian Murray, Professor Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Siobhán Keegan and Daniel Holder Director of the CAJ.
Contributors
Episode 1
Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh
Currently serving on the ECtHR in respect of Ireland, since July 2024. Before moving to the international stage, she built a distinguished career in the Irish judiciary, serving on the Court of Appeal (2019–2024) and the High Court (2016–2019). She spent over two decades prior as a leading barrister and Senior Counsel specialising in criminal law and human rights. A respected legal scholar, she served as the Reid Professor of Criminal Law at Trinity College Dublin and co-authored the definitive text Evidence in Criminal Trials. She was educated at University College Dublin (UCD) and King’s Inns.
Justice Dónal O’Donnell
Irish jurist who has served as the Chief Justice of Ireland and President of the Supreme Court since October 2021. He was educated at UCD, King’s Inns, and the University of Virginia, where he graduated first in his LLM class. Before his judicial career, he spent 27 years as a highly regarded barrister specialising in constitutional and public law, frequently representing the Irish State in landmark cases. In a rare distinction, he was appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court in 2010, establishing himself as a leading constitutional thinker, before succeeding Frank Clarke as the head of the Irish judiciary.
Professor Eunan O’Halpin
Renowned historian and the Bank of Ireland Professor of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College Dublin. Educated at UCD and the University of Cambridge, he is a leading expert on 20th-century Irish and British politics. His extensive body of work includes landmark publications such as Defending Ireland: The Irish State and its Enemies since 1922 and The Dead of the Irish Revolution. O’Halpin also serves as a joint editor of the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series and has deep personal connections to the Irish revolutionary period.
Associate Professor Niamh Howlin
Associate Professor and former Dean of Law at the UCD Sutherland School of Law, specialising in legal history and criminal justice. A double graduate of UCD (BCL and PhD), her research focuses on 19th and 20th-century Irish court systems. She is a prolific and award-winning author, Vice-President of the Irish Legal History Society and a member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission. Her work on historical miscarriages of justice has directly informed state-level actions, such as the posthumous presidential pardon of Myles Joyce.
Episode 2
Justice Gerard Hogan
An Irish judge who has served on the Supreme Court of Ireland since October 2021. He was educated at UCD, University of Pennsylvania, TCD and the King’s Inns, holding doctorates from both UCD and TCD. Called to the bar in 1984 and made Senior Counsel in 1997, he taught at Trinity for 25 years and co-authored JM Kelly: The Irish Constitution, the core text in the field. He served on the High Court (2010), the Court of Appeal (2014), and as Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (2018-2021) before his elevation to the Supreme Court.
Michael O'Boyle
Northern Irish lawyer and human rights expert who served as Deputy Registrar of the ECtHR from February 2006 until his retirement in February 2015. He previously served as Registrar of the First and Fourth Sections of the Court. A barrister-at-law and former Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, he holds degrees from Queen's University Belfast, Harvard Law School, and the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg. He is co-author of Harris, O'Boyle, and Warbrick: Law of the European Convention on Human Rights. He has since acted as Special Adviser to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Justice Iseult O'Malley
An Irish judge who has served on the Supreme Court of Ireland since October 2015, having previously sat on the High Court from 2012. Educated at TCD and the King's Inns, she was called to the Bar in 1987 and became a Senior Counsel in 2007, practising mainly in criminal law. She chaired the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) from 1985 to 2012, during which the organisation campaigned for the introduction of civil legal aid. She currently chairs the Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee of the Judicial Council.
Siofra O'Leary
An Irish jurist who served as President of the ECtHR from 1 November 2022 until 1 July 2024, becoming the first woman and Irish person to hold the position in the court's 63-year history. A Dublin native and BCL graduate of UCD, she also studied at the European University Institute. Before joining the Strasbourg court, she held a number of academic positions and worked as a référendaire and chef de cabinet at the Court of Justice of the European Union. She was elected to the ECtHR in 2015, served as President of Section from 2020, Vice-President from January 2022, and before serving as President.
Episode 3
Justice Brian Murray
An Irish judge who has served on the Supreme Court since February 2022, having previously sat on the Court of Appeal from 2019. A TCD and University of Cambridge graduate, he won the Irish Times Debate in 1984 for the College Historical Society before attending the King's Inns. Called to the Bar in 1989 and made Senior Counsel in 2002. He practised in the areas of constitutional and commercial law. He provided advice on the law of abortion to the Citizens' Assembly in March 2017, which fed into the recommendations leading to the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution. He is the lead judge for international relations at the Supreme Court.
Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin
One of Ireland's most prominent international human rights lawyers and academics. She is University Regents Professor, holder of the Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society, and faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School, while concurrently serving as a professor of law at Queen's University Belfast. From 2017 to 2023, she served as UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights. She was appointed Honorary King's Counsel in 2024, named to the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic in 2025, and appointed to the Council of State of Ireland in 2026.
Siobhán Keegan
Northern Irish judge serving as Northern Ireland's first Lady Chief Justice since 2 September 2021. A Queen's University Belfast graduate, she was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1994 and became a Queen's Counsel in 2006. She served as Vice Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland and Chair of the Family Bar Association. Appointed to the High Court in October 2015 as one of the first two women appointed to that bench, she served as Presiding Coroner from 2017 to 2020 and as the Senior Family Judge in the High Court from April 2020. As Lady Chief Justice, she serves as Head of the Judiciary of Northern Ireland, President of the Court of Appeal, President of the Crown Court, and Chair of Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission.
Daniel Holder
Northern Irish human rights advocate who has served as Director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), the Belfast-based human rights NGO, since April 2023, having previously been Deputy Director since 2011. Previously, he worked for five years in the policy team of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, led a migrant worker equality project, and has experience working in Havana, Cuba as a language professional. He holds a primary degree in Spanish and Sociology and an LLM in Human Rights Law, both from Queen's University Belfast. In November 2025, he was elected as one of 15 Vice-Presidents of the International Federation for Human Rights at its triennial Congress in Bogotá.
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