The nominees are, from left, Judge Fergal Gaynor, an international judge at Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, a judge of the Irish Court of Appeal and Prof Colm Ó Cinnéide, professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law at University College London.
After a public advertisement process, 17 applications for the ECHR position were received and were considered by an expert panel, convened by the Attorney General . The panel comprised the AG; former Chief Justice Frank Clarke; and Dr Suzanne Egan, Associate Professor at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin.
Licensed to practice law in Ireland and England, he is an associate member of London-based Doughty Street Chambers. He was appointed as an international judge in 2020 at Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague and has served as a full-time judge since May 2021. Ms Justice Ní Raifeartaigh qualified as a barrister in 1991 after attending UCD and King’s Inns. She was appointed a judge of the High Court in 2016 and elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2019.
As a barrister, she was involved in a number of special public inquiries. She acted for the Oireachtas in its investigation of Judge Brian Curtin after his criminal trial on a child pornography charge resulted in an acquittal and in a later constitutional challenge by Judge Curtin aimed at having impeachment procedures ruled invalid. The impeachment motion lapsed after the judge resigned in 2006 on grounds of ill health.