The Bank of Ireland Finance Student Awards November 2023
At a ceremony in late November, Sutherland School of Law honoured twenty-eight outstanding law students at the Bank of Ireland Finance Awards. We were awarding prize winners from the 2022/2023 academic year and also took the opportunity to award medals to top students from 2020/2021. Medals had not been awarded to these students due to the prevailing circumstances of the covid pandemic and we were very pleased to have the opportunity to address this omission.
Senator Michael McDowell SC presented each of the students with their medals in front of an audience of students, their parents and members of staff from the School of Law. Former Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Senator McDowell is an Adjunct Professor of Sutherland School of Law and we were very pleased to welcome him to the school for the prize giving.
The award ceremony has run since 1976 and was originally sponsored by Bank of Ireland with Bank of Ireland Finance taking over in 2021. Previous prize winners have included, Síofra O’Leary, President of the European Court of Human Rights, Attorney General, Mr Rossa Fanning, Mr Justice David Barniville, President of the High Court, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly of the Supreme Court, Professor Deirdre Curtin of the European University Institute of Florence, Professor Gráinne de Búrca of New York University and Ms Aedamar Comiskey, Senior Partner and Chair of Linklaters.
The stage 1 prize is awarded for the Tort Essay and for the past 42 years this has been adjudicated by senior members of the judiciary. This year we were honoured to have Ms Justice Marie Baker of the Supreme Court undertake the task on our behalf. The prizes for Stage 2, 3 & 4 are awarded to the top students for their overall performance across all law programmes in that particular year. The twenty-eight outstanding students who were awarded medals are outlined below and photographs of those who attended on the evening.
2022-2023 Winners
Level I Tort Essay: First Place (Gold Medal) Liza Guezenec, Second Place (Silver Medal) Marc Bracken, Third Place (Bronze Medal) Cara McCaul.
Stage II: First Place (Gold Medal) Hernan Perez McKay, Shared second Place (Silver Medals) - Aoife Devlin and Sarah O'Reilly.
Stage III: First Place (Gold Medal) Mark O'Rourke, Second Place (Silver Medal) Christina Colgan, Third Place (Bronze Medal) Simon Conran.
Stage IV: First Place (Gold Medal) Caitriona Hosford, Shared Second Place (Silver Medals) - Sadhbh Ní Ghráda, Robert O’Sullivan, Molly McHugh and Roisin O'Donovan.
2020-2021 Winners
Level I Tort Essay: First Place (Gold Medal) Patrick Ryan, Second Place (Silver Medal) Benjamin Wyant, Third Place (Bronze Medal) Ciara Coughlan.
Stage II: First Place (Gold Medal) Ciara Coughlan, Second Place (Silver Medal) Eimear McMahon, Third Place (Bronze Medal) Patrick Ryan.
Stage III: First Place (Gold Medal) Emily Cahill, Second Place (Silver Medal) Jessica Commins, Third Place (Bronze Medal) Ben McDonald.
Stage IV: First Place (Gold Medal) Kevin O'Connor, Second Place (Silver Medal) Elizabeth Higgins, Shared Third Place (Bronze Medals) - Maryia Amelyanchuk, Rory Clarke and Sean Desmond.
2022-2023 Stage IV Gold Medal winner, Caitriona Hosford
2022-2023 Stage IV Silver Medal winners - Sadhbh Ní Ghráda and Robert O’Sullivan
2022-2023 Stage IV Silver Medal winners - Molly McHugh and Roisin O'Donovan
2022-2023 Stage III Gold Medal winner, Mark O’Rourke
2022-2023 Stage III Silver Medal winner, Christina Colgan and Bronze Medal winner, Simon Conran
2022-2023 Stage II Silver Medal winner, Sarah O’Reilly
2022 – 2023 Tort Silver Medal winner, Marc Bracken, and Bronze Medal winner, Cara McCaul
2020-2021 Stage IV Gold Medal winner, Kevin O’Connor
2020-2021 Stage IV Silver Medal winner, Elizabeth Higgins
2020-2021 Stage IV Bronze Medal winners, Maryia Amelyanchuk and Sean Desmond
2020 – 2021 Dual winner Patrick Ryan - Gold Medal for the Tort Essay and Bronze Medal for Stage II
Milestone Reunion of the Classes of 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013
1993 BCL Classmates Jeanne Kelly, Michael Barr, Laura Delaney and Grainne Butler
In late November 2023 we were delighted to have the opportunity to celebrate the Milestone Reunions of the classes of 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013 in UCD Sutherland School of Law.
The evening began with the classmates gathering in the Gardiner Atrium to share stories, reminisce and reignite connections. Music was by harpist Teresa O'Donnell and the group enjoyed canapés and wine while they caught up with old friends. With a warm welcome from Professor Laurent Pech, Dean of UCD Sutherland School of Law, attendees were taken on a brief stroll down memory lane, highlighting key moments from the School's history since many had last been on the Belfield campus. There were alumni who had spent their college years in Roebuck Castle and others the Newman Building (better known then as the Arts Block). For many it was their first visit to the Sutherland School building which officially opened in late 2013.
Subsequently, each class moved to breakout rooms, providing an opportunity for more intimate interactions among peers. Class speakers shared anecdotes, stories were exchanged, and each class captured their unique bond in a memorable group photo.
The invaluable assistance of Class Speakers and Class Reps proved instrumental in reaching out to classmates. Their efforts, along with the support of all those involved, contributed to creating a fantastic atmosphere for this special occasion. Our gratitude extends to everyone who played a role in making the night a resounding success.
To stay informed about your own upcoming reunion and other UCD events, please ensure that we have your updated details. You can update your information and find out more about the benefits of being one of the UCD Alumni community at this link. That will ensure that you don’t miss out on the latest news from UCD and the School of Law and that you hear about any potential events or gatherings that might be of interest to you!
BCL 2003 classmates Brian McCloskey, Robert Fitzpatrick, Dr Niamh Howlin and Emma Redmond with Professor Laurent Pech (second from right)
Carmel O’Connor, Hugh Mohan SC and Carmel Moore of the BCL Class of 1983
Classmates from the Class of 2013
The BCL Class of 1983
The BCL Class of 1993
The BCL Class of 2003
The BCL Class of 2013
Launch of Barristers in Ireland: An Evolving Profession Since 1921 by Dr Niamh Howlin
Hugh Mohan SC, Attorney General Rossa Fanning, Dr Niamh Howlin and Sara Phelan SC
Niamh Howlin's latest book, Barristers in Ireland: An Evolving Profession Since 1921, was launched by Attorney General Rossa Fanning SC at the Bar of Ireland's Distillery Building on 12 October. Members of the bar and judiciary, UCD colleagues and friends were welcomed by Sara Phelan SC, Chair of the Bar Council, and Hugh Mohan SC, Chair of The King's Inns. The Attorney General described the book as 'a meticulously researched publication.' Published by Four Courts Press, it combines empirical and archival sources to consider the history of barristers in Ireland from 1921-1999.
The book is published by Four Courts Press and copies are on sale now at (opens in a new window)this link.
Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty, The Honorable Patricia M. Lucas and Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly
Dr Cliona Kelly, Dr Liam Thornton, Professor Laurent Pech, Dr Suzanne Egan and Professor Imelda Maher
Barristers in Ireland: An Evolving Profession Since 1921
UCD SUTHERLAND OPPORTUNITY supported by MASON HAYES & CURRAN LLP BURSARIES
Call for Applications
The UCD Sutherland School of Law is now inviting applications for the UCD Sutherland Opportunity Supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Bursaries from undergraduate and graduate law students in the School who are facing economic or financial challenges.
This very generous bursary scheme is funded by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP and is designed to support UCD law students who encounter a financial challenge in continuing their undergraduate studies or in pursuing graduate study at UCD Sutherland School of Law.
Incoming exchange students are not eligible to apply for these bursaries (although incoming BCL/Maitrise students are eligible to apply).
Students who have previously applied for a bursary - whether successfully or unsuccessfully – and students already in receipt of Cothram na Féinne scholarships as part of UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP, are welcome to apply for bursaries.
Applicants must supply their student name, student number and UCDConnect email address in the application
The closing deadline for submission of fully completed applications is by no later than 5pm on Wednesday, 1 November 2023.
All applications must be completed via the relevant online application form– (opens in a new window)click here to access the application form or see below.
Professor Ian O'Donnell wins US Criminology Book Award
Professor Ian O’Donnell’s latest book, Prison Life: Pain, Resistance, and Purpose, published by New York University Press, has won the 2023 Outstanding Book Award given by the American Society of Criminology’s Division of International Criminology.
Prison Life offers a fresh appreciation of how people in prison organize their lives, drawing on case studies from Africa, Europe and the US. The book describes how order is maintained, how power is exercised, how days are spent, and how meaning is found in a variety of environments that all have the same function – incarceration – but discharge it very differently. It is based on an unusually diverse range of sources including photographs, drawings, court cases, official reports, memoirs, and site visits.
Ian O'Donnell, Professor of Criminology at UCD Sutherland School of Law
Ian O’Donnell contrasts the soul-destroying isolation of the federal supermax in Florence, Colorado with the crowded conviviality of an Ethiopian prison where men and women cook their own meals, seek opportunities to generate an income, elect a leadership team, and live according to a code of conduct that they devised and enforce. He explores life on wings controlled by the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland’s H Blocks, where men who saw the actions that led to their incarceration as politically motivated moved as one, in perpetual defiance of the authorities. He shows how prisoners in Texas took to the courts to overthrow a regime that allowed their routine subjugation by violent men known as building tenders, who had been selected by staff to supervise and discipline their peers.
In each case study O’Donnell presents the life story of a man who was molded by, and in return molded, the institution that held him. This ensures that his reflections on law and policy as well as on theory and practice never lose sight of the human angle. Imprisonment is about pain after all, and pain is personal.
Prison Life is available in paperback and as an e-book from all of the usual places. (opens in a new window)https://nyupress.org/9781479816156/prison-life/
International Conference on Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC) hosted in Sutherland School of Law
The UCD Centre for Human Rights was honoured to host the 14th International Conference on Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC) at the Sutherland School of Law on June 12th, 2023. This is the first time the ICEDC Conference has been convened outside its usual home at the Institute of Education at University College London. The annual conference is a meeting place for scholars and researchers from the fields of law, education, sociology, history, politics, and other relevant disciplines, as well as policymakers and civil society activists from across Europe and internationally to present and discuss current research and policy relating to human rights education and citizenship.
(L to R) Professor Laura Lundy (Co-Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights and Professor
of Education, Law and of Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast and the School of
Law, UCC); Dr. Suzanne Egan (Associate Professor and Director of Knowledge Exchange, UCD
School of Law); Professor Audrey Osler (Professor of Citizenship and Human Rights Education
at the University of Leeds and Professor of Education at the University of South Eastern
Norway); and Professor Hugh Starkey (Professor of Citizenship and Human Rights Education,
Institute of Education, University College London).
Taking place on the 75th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the UN in 1948, the theme of this year’s conference was Human Rights and Education: Past, Present and Future. Education is central to the fulfilment of many of the rights in the Declaration and Article 26 of the text expressly provides that the right to education itself should be directed “...to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
The conference featured presentations from some 24 participants in parallel sessions on a range of relevant topics including issues in and methodologies of human rights education in schools and at third level, and the role of human rights education in combating discrimination and sexual abuse. These sessions were interspersed by fascinating keynote speeches by three leading scholars in the field of human rights education and children’s rights: Professor Laura Lundy (Queen’s University Belfast and UCC, School of Law) addressed children’s right to education: past, present and future; Professor Audrey Osler (University of Leeds and University of South-Eastern Norway) spoke on the theme of extending human rights education by exploring contentious issues through family histories; while Professor Hugh Starkey (University College London) closed out the conference proceedings with a presentation on human rights education in context: peace, antiracism, global citizenship and the climate emergency.
The conference was convened by Associate Professor Suzanne Egan (who leads the School of Law’s clinical modules on human rights education and law in the classroom) together with Professors Osler and Starkey. All three are members of the editorial team of the Human Rights Education Review (HRER) an open access, online international scholarly journal which provides a forum for research and critical scholarship on human rights and diversity in education internationally. It is hoped that the best papers from the conference will be published in a forthcoming issues of the(opens in a new window) (opens in a new window)Human Rights Education Review (HRER)
Four UCD Law students take part in 'Our Rule of Law Academy' in Brussels
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UCD Law with French Law student, Roisin O'Donovan, speaking at ‘Our Rule of Law Academy’.
We are extremely proud of our four students who participated in the first edition of the Rule of Law Academy between January and March 2023. The ‘Our Rule of Law Academy’ is an academic mentorship programme for the future generation of rule of law defenders. As part of the programme, forty-five undergraduate students from twenty-five EU Member States conduct research and develop policy proposals in the area of European Law. They are divided into eleven working groups and are supervised by twenty-two rule of law experts. This year the mentors included UCD alumna Prof Grainne de Burca of NYU and UCD Dean of Law, Prof Laurent Pech. The students who participated this year from UCD Sutherland School of Law were:
• Roisin O'Donovan (Law with French Law): Academic Freedom Working Group
• Katie O'Sullivan (Law with Politics): Political and Policy Methods Working Group
• Saira Khan (Business and Law): Non-implementation of ECtHR/ECJ judgements Working Group
• Marianne Wetter (Law with French Law): Protection of NGOs Working Group
The aim of the project is to educate young students of law and related disciplines through educational democracy - and rule of law-related activities, draw upon their international and intercultural background, and encourage them to get personally involved in the fight for European democracy. Each of the eleven groups tackles a particular issue of the European rule of law crisis and develop a policy proposal designed to tackle the select issue. In this way the combined efforts of all the participants and mentors will lead to a holistic policy response to the rule of law crisis.
As part of their time in Brussels, the students also got the opportunity to visit the European Commission. There they attended talks given by distinguished speakers which included UCD Alumna, Judge Síofra O'Leary, President of the European Court of Human Rights.
The outcomes of the programme have now been published and are available to download (opens in a new window)here.
Minister Roderic O’Connor chairs panel at seminar hosted by UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies
The UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies has organised several successful events under its professional development programme so far in 2023.
The year started with its 9th annual update on Irish Constitutional Law which took place in January with speakers Professor Eoin Carolan SC, Brian Foley SC, Dr Tom Hickey (DCU), Dr Sarah Fulham McQuillan and Associate Professor John O'Dowd. Speakers looked at the key decisions on Irish constitutional law that were delivered by the courts in 2022.
Prof Eoin Carolan SC, Minister Roderic O’Gorman, Orla Keane and Prof Laurent Pech, UCD Dean of Law
In late April, the Centre organised an information event for legal and healthcare professionals to coincide with the commencement of ‘The Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act. The Act marks the biggest change for decades in Ireland's legal framework for people with capacity issues and abolishes the current wards of court system. The first panel of the day was hosted by Mr. Justice David Barniville, President of the High Court and the second by Mr. Roderic O’Gorman TD, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Guest speakers included Áine Hynes SC, St John Solicitors, Fiona McNulty, Mason Hayes & Curran, Aoife Mulligan BL and Orla Keane, General Counsel Mental Health Commission and the Decision Support Service.
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Mr. Justice David Barniville with Áine Hynes SC of St John Solicitors
The Centre’s annual ‘Current Issues in Irish Public Law’ conference was held again this year with twenty-five participants from the judiciary, law firms and academia. The conference is one of the Centre’s largest annual events and attracts speakers and attendees from academia and legal practice every year.
This year, the Centre was honoured to welcome the following distinguished guests to chair panels through the day: Hon. Mr. Justice Collins, Supreme Court, Hon. Ms. Justice Butler, Court of Appeal, Hon. Mr. Justice O’Higgins, High Court, Hon. Ms. Justice Phelan, High Court, Mr Rossa Fanning SC, Attorney General and Ciarán Toland SC.
The UCD Centre for Constitutional Studies was also grateful to the many speakers who delivered papers on the day: Denise Brett SC, Eoin Carolan SC and UCD, Sarah Cooney BL, Roisin Costello BL, April Duff BL, Emily Farrell SC, John Fitzgerald SC, Brian Foley SC, Finn Keyes BL, Ronan Lupton SC, Tony McGillicuddy SC, Aoife Mc Mahon BL, Aoiffe Moran from Mason Hayes & Curran, Aoife Mulligan BL, Professor Colm O’Cinneide of UCL, John O’Dowd from UCD, Ailbhe O’Neill SC and TCD, Bernadette Quigley SC, Eltin Ryle of Matheson and Mark Rodgers BL.
Those interested in attending future events can ensure that they receive advance information by emailing law.events@ucd.ie.
International Symposium “Entrenching a Global Health Emergency Mode: Implications for Health and Human Rights Law”
(Front) Moyinoluwa Adelakun, Dr. Amrei Müller, Philipp Kruse, Dr. Marie-Luce Paris, Dr. Silvia Behrendt, Prof. David Dürr, (Back) Prof. Joseph Cannataci, Prof. Günter Reiner, Dr. David Bell, Prof. Michael Geistlinger
UCD Centre for Human Rights and UCD Sutherland School of Law were honoured to host an international research symposium on the topic ‘Entrenching a Global Health Emergency Mode: Implications for Health and Human Rights Law’ on the 15th and 16th of June 2023. The event was organised by Dr Amrei Müller and Dr Silvia Behrendt.
The symposium involved academics and practitioners with expertise in the area of international and domestic health law, the law of the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as domestic, European and international human rights law.
In two days of intense discussions, the symposium explored the various ways in which the powers of the WHO and its Director-General to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) and to subsequently recommend WHO member states to take medical and non-medical countermeasures against such a PHEIC impact on international, regional and domestic human rights law and the the regulatory frameworks for medicinal product authorisations. These discussions appeared particularly timely as intense negotiations of a new treaty on pandemic preparedness and response are currently on-going at the WHO, and the IHR are thoroughly revised and amended in a parallel process.
The symposium also examined broader questions concerning the securitisation of pandemic preparedness and response laws and policies, and the legal implications of the on-going public-private hybridisation of formerly public inter-governmental organisations like WHO, primarily through an increasing reliance on public-private partnerships like the Vaccine Alliance Gavi and its Covax facility as well as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi).
UCD Centre for Human Rights would like to thank all participants for their valuable contributions, and UCD Sutherland School of Law for excellent administrative support of the event.
The 1981 BCL Class celebrate forty years since graduation
We were delighted to support the organisers of the Class of 1981 Reunion in February 2023. The Milestone Reunion which we would normally have hosted for them in 2021 had not taken place due to Covid but they were able to belatedly mark their 40 Years since graduation from the UCD School of Law, this year.
Over 60 Alumni gathered in the Blue Room of the Law Society of Ireland in Blackhall Place for the event led by class alumni Martin Lawlor, Richard Devereux and Gearóidín Charlton who worked for several months on the event, supported by UCD Alumni Relations on the event.
Alumni were greeted on arrival by UCD Alumni Relations and were gifted a commemorative UCD pin. During the reminiscing, catch ups and champagne, Law lecturer John O'Dowd from the UCD Sutherland School of Law spoke to the Class of 1981 about some of the changes that had happened at the School over the last four decades, updating them on previous lecturers, current school activities and achievements.
Following the speeches, the class retired to the Restaurant in Blackhall Place to continue the evening over dinner and catch up on a few more memories.
Margaret Walsh, Adrienne Bergin and Isabel Foley
Mr Justice Michael McGrath, Gearóidín Charlton and Orla Finn
Nollaig Green and Mary Quinn
The BCL Class of 1981
Paddy McNeice, Ursula Quinlan, Shea Cullen and Brian Farren
John M. Kelly lecture 2023 delivered by Baroness Onora O’Neill
(L to R) Mr Nick Kelly, Prof Laurent Pech, Baroness Onora O’Neill and Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell, Chief Justice
UCD Sutherland School of Law was delighted to welcome Baroness Onora O’Neill to deliver the 2023 John M. Kelly Memorial Lecture in late March. This is the most prestigious event in the Sutherland School of Law’s calendar and Baroness O’Neill chose to address the topic: ‘'Philosophical views on judgement” in her lecture.
The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell, an alumnus of the school, introduced Baroness O’Neill. The Chief Justice is a former student of John Kelly’s from UCD and also delivered a lecture in the series in 2016. Professor Laurent Pech, Dean of Law began the evening’s proceedings by welcoming the Chief Justice, the Kelly Family and the audience in attendance.
We are delighted to share the recording of Baroness Onora O’Neill’s lecture(opens in a new window) here.
Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve CH CBE FBA Hon FRS FMedSci MRIA
Onora O’Neill comes from Northern Ireland and was educated in London before attending university in Oxford and Harvard, where she completed a PhD under the supervision of John Rawls. She has taught at various universities in the US and the UK, and was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge from 1992 to 2006. She combines writing on political philosophy and ethics with a wide range of public activities. She chaired the Nuffield Foundation from 1998-2010 and was President of the British Academy from 2005-9. She has been a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 1999. She has served on House of Lords Select Committees on Stem Cell Research, BBC Charter Review, Genomic Medicine, Nanotechnology and Food, Behavioural Change and Political Polling and Digital Media.
She has published Acting on Principle (second edition 2013), Faces of Hunger: An Essay on Poverty, Development and Justice (1986), Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant's Practical Philosophy (1989), Towards Justice and Virtue (1996), Bounds of Justice (2000), Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics (2002), A Question of Trust (the 2002 Reith Lectures), Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics (jointly with Neil Manson, 2007), Constructing Authorities: Reason, Politics and Interpretation in Kant's Philosophy, (2016); Justice Across Boundaries: Whose Obligations? (2017), From Principles to Practice (2018) and A Philosopher Looks at Digital Communication (2022) as well as numerous articles in philosophical journals and on public affairs. She currently works on practical judgement and normativity; conceptions of public reason and of autonomy; trust and accountability; the ethics of communication, and on Kant’s philosophy.
She has been awarded the Kant Prize, the Holberg Prize and the Berggruen Prize.
The audience of academics, students, practitioners and members of the judiciary included members of Professor John M. Kelly’s family. Guests at the lecture included many notable alumni including the Attorney General, Mr Rossa Fanning and former Chief Justice Mr Justice Ronan Keane. The lecture honours the memory of Professor Kelly, (1931-1991) who was Professor of Jurisprudence and editor of the Irish Jurist as well as a government minister and Attorney General.
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Former Chief Justice, Mr Justice Ronan Keane with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan (retired)
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Dr Alexa Zellentin, UCD School of Philosophy, in conversation with Dr Emer Hunt, UCD Sutherland School of Law
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Two former Attorneys General, Dermot Gleeson SC (left) with David Byrne SC
John Harte (BCL 1990) and Jane Harte with Dr Emer Hunt and students Rosa and Sarah Geoghegan
Leading scholar of international refugee and migration law appointed Full Professor at UCD Sutherland School of Law
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Cathryn Costello to the position of Full Professor of Law at UCD Sutherland School of Law.
Cathryn Costello is currently Professor of Fundamental Rights, and Co-Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School, Berlin and Andrew W Mellon Professor of International Refugee and Migration Law at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. She is a visiting professor at the University of Oslo, and has held fellowships at the University of Melbourne and New York University.
Professor Costello is a leading scholar of international refugee and migration law, and has pioneered the study of the intersection of labour and migration law. She is co-editor with Michelle Foster and Jane McAdam of the Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law (OUP 2021). Her monograph on the (opens in a new window)Human Rights of Migrants and Refugees in European Law (OUP 2015) was co-awarded the 2016 Odysseus Academic Prize for ‘outstanding academic research in the area of European Immigration or Asylum Law’. She is currently in the final stages of an ERC project, RefMig, on mobility, status and rights in the global refugee and migration regimes ((opens in a new window)www.refmig.org), and is also the lead principal investigator of a Volkswagen European challenges project on automated decision-making in asylum and migration, (opens in a new window)AFAR.
Professor Costello has a DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford, an LLM from the College of Europe, Bruges, and a BCL from University College Cork. She commenced her academic career at the Law School, Trinity College Dublin, where she also directed the Irish Centre for European Law.
Professor Colin Scott, Principal, UCD College of Social Sciences and Law and Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at UCD said: ‘Professor Costello will be joining the Faculty in July 2023, bringing not only outstanding teaching experience and research credentials, but also great experience of interdisciplinary institution building. At UCD, she will develop new institutional collaborations on global migration law and governance.’
Professor Laurent Pech, Dean of Law and Head of the UCD Sutherland School of Law commented: ‘The Sutherland School of Law is delighted to welcome Professor Costello, a leading scholar of international and European refugee and migration law. Her appointment will further strengthen our School’s teaching and research capabilities in many aspects of EU and human rights law.’
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC appointed Adjunct Full Professor at UCD Sutherland School of Law
We are pleased to announce that leading human rights lawyer, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, will join the School as an Adjunct Full Professor from September 2023. Caoilfhionn is a graduate of the school and was awarded the UCD Law Alumni Award in 2017. She practises as a barrister with Doughty Street Chambers in London and is a specialist in human rights law, public law, media law, inquests/inquiries, community care and prison law.
Caoilfhionn has acted in many landmark human rights cases before the European Court of Human Rights, United Nations bodies and other international tribunals, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and courts in the UK and a number of other jurisdictions.
Her prominent work has included acting for bereaved families and survivors of the 7/7 London bombings and the Hillsborough disaster, and her involvement in a number of high-profile case related to journalists’ safety, including acting for the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was assassinated in Malta in 2017, and Jimmy Lai, the media owner, writer and pro-democracy campaigner imprisoned in Hong Kong. Earlier this year she (opens in a new window)was appointed as Ireland’s special rapporteur on child protection.
We look forward to the contribution that Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC will make to the school and the inspiration she will provide to our students.
Court of Appeal Workshop
Dr Mark Coen and Dr Noel McGrath coordinated a two-day workshop on the Court of Appeal of Ireland on Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th May 2023. Fifteen papers were delivered over two days by distinguished scholars from Ireland and other jurisdictions. The workshop is a key aspect of a project examining the first ten years of the Court of Appeal, which was established following a constitutional referendum in 2014. The project is located in the Centre for the Common Law in Europe (CCLE) in the Sutherland School of Law.
Copy of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry Book Presented to the President of Ireland
On Wednesday 10 May 2023 Dr Mark Coen of the Sutherland School of Law at UCD, along with his co-editors Professor Katherine O'Donnell (School of Philosophy, UCD) and Dr Maeve O'Rourke (Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway), presented a copy of their book A Dublin Magdalene Laundry: Donnybrook and Church-State Power in Ireland to President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin.
Published by Bloomsbury Academic, the book examines the history and legacy of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry, which operated from 1837 to 1992. The book's interdisciplinary approach and discovery of new information that contradicts the official State narrative on the Magdalene Laundries has received widespread media coverage, some of which is available here.
Photo credit: Ann Lane
UCD team wins the 2023 Corn Adomnáin – International Humanitarian Law Competition
UCD School of Law Winning team (l to r) Donna Paru, Moyin Adelakun and Alanna Grogan
The UCD team of three brilliant law students – Moyin Adelakun, Alanna Grogan and Donna Parau – won the 2023 Corn Adomnáin International Humanitarian Law Competition. The team was supported in their preparations by Dr Amrei Müller, Lecturer/Assistant Professor (Ad Astra Fellow) at UCD Sutherland School of Law. We congratulate our students for this outstanding achievement!
The Corn Adomnáin competition is organised annually for students studying law in Ireland by the Irish Red Cross (IRC). This year, the competition was hosted by UCD Centre for Human Rights in the Sutherland School of Law on the 11th of March 2023. The Centre is very grateful for this excellent cooperation with the IRC.
Built around a fictitious case study of an armed conflict, nine teams from Irish universities were competing in role-plays and simulations, challenging participants to explain and apply the core rules of IHL. The activities covered the protection of historical monuments, the local environment, agricultural sites as well as dams and dykes; the detention of prisoners of war (POWs) and members of armed groups; the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in armed conflicts; and the protections IHL affords to women and to victims of rape and sexual violence in armed conflict. The competition also included a gaming scenario where teams had to make decisions in real-time on the conduct of a ground operation in accordance with IHL. The competition ended an International Criminal Court (ICC) moot court involving a case against a General and a Commander. The moot court was judged by Judges Shireen Fisher (Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone), Hilkka Becker (International Protection Appeals Tribunal) and Patricia McNamara (District Court).
UCD Centre for Human Rights and Sutherland School of Law are very proud of the winning UCD team!
UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran BURSARIES
Call for Applications
The UCD Sutherland School of Law is now inviting applications for the UCD Sutherland Opportunity Supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Bursaries from undergraduate and graduate law students in the School who are facing economic or financial challenges.
This very generous bursary scheme is funded by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP and is designed to support UCD law students who face a financial challenge in continuing their undergraduate studies, or in pursuing graduate study at UCD Sutherland School of Law.
Incoming exchange students are not eligible to apply for these bursaries (although incoming BCL/Maitrise students are eligible to apply).
Students who have previously applied for a bursary - whether successfully or unsuccessfully - are very welcome to apply again. Also students already in receipt of Cothram na Féinne scholarships as part of UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP are welcome to apply for bursaries.
All applications must be completed via the relevant online application form – (opens in a new window)click here to access the application form.
Applicants must provide their student name, student number and UCDConnect email address on the form.
The closing deadline for submission of fully completed applications is by no later than 5pm on Wednesday, 8 February 2023.
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HRER/ UCD Conference 12 June 2023: Programme now available
We are pleased to announce that the programme for this conference is now available to download here .
This conference is hosted by the UCD Centre for Human Rights in association with the International Conference for Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC) and Human Rights Education Review
Date/Time: Monday 12 June 2023, 9.30 – 17.00
Venue: University College Dublin, Centre for Human Rights, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Title: Human Rights and Education: past, present and future.
Background
The ICEDC annual conference is a meeting place for scholars, researchers, graduate students, education policymakers, and civil society activists from across Europe and internationally. This year’s annual conference is being organised by the UCD Centre for Human Rights in Dublin, Ireland in association with the journal (opens in a new window)Human Rights Education Review (HRER). The conference will be a unique opportunity to present and discuss current research and policy relating to education for human rights and democratic citizenship. We welcome research papers and poster presentations addressing education for human rights and democratic citizenship from sociology, education, law, history, politics, geography and other relevant disciplines, as well as analyses of policy and case studies of campaigns and curriculum development.
Call for papers (Deadline 13 March 2023)
The 14th ICEDC Annual Conference is a contribution to the World Education Research Association (WERA) International Research Network (IRN) in Human Rights Education (HRE). It will take place on the 75th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human RIghts (UDHR) which was adopted by the UN in 1948. Education is central to the fulfillment of many of the rights in the Declaration and Article 26 of the text expressly provides that the right to education itself should be directed “...to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
The conference welcomes papers that explicitly address the theory and practice of human rights education and children’s rights education. Human rights and international law are threatened by the flouting of international commitments in the name of national interest and security concerns. Human rights education is ever more urgently required to ensure populations are aware of the role of human rights in promoting freedom, justice and peace in the world.
We invite papers that address issues of human rights and education. We welcome papers that focus on ways in which this right has been and is being respected, protected and fulfilled in different contexts. Papers may also address issues where this right has been denied through discrimination by, for instance, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexuality. Our primary focus is past and present but we also welcome papers which address the future of human rights education and ways of strengthening the HRE curriculum.
The WERA IRN, established in 2019, has a founding membership from 10 countries across 4 continents. The founding members are also members of the editorial team of Human Rights Education Review, an open access, online international scholarly journal published by the University of South-Eastern Norway. (opens in a new window)Human Rights Education Review (HRER) provides a forum for research and critical scholarship on human rights and diversity in education internationally, and it forms a pillar of the WERA IRN. Our plan is to publish some of the best papers from ICEDC 2023.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words including name, institutional affiliation and contact email should be sent, no later than Monday 13 March 2023 to: Dr. Suzanne Egan, (opens in a new window)suzanne.egan@ucd.ie. All abstracts will be peer reviewed by members of the ICEDC steering group (Professor Audrey Osler, Professor Hugh Starkey and Dr. Suzanne Egan). Please indicate whether you would prefer to give an oral or a poster presentation. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the review by Tuesday 21 March 2023.
Professor Gráinne de Búrca awarded UCD Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws
Prof Imelda Maher, Prof Laurent Pech, Prof Orla Feely, Prof Gráinne de Búrca and Prof Colin Scott
Professor Gráinne de Búrca, New York University Law School, was recently awarded a UCD Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws. UCD Sutherland School of Law was pleased to have had this opportunity to honour one of the school's most distinguished alumni.
Professor de Búrca is the Florence Ellinwood Allen Professor of Law at NYU. She is a law graduate of UCD, the University of Michigan and Kings Inns. She started her career as a researcher at the Law Reform Commission in Dublin before moving to Oxford University and then onto the prestigious European University Institute in Florence. She was the first Irish person to hold a tenured chair at Harvard Law School before taking up her current role at NYU. Her work has covered three important and related domains of law: European Union Law, Human Rights Law, and Constitutional Law. She is widely published across these areas and, in her career to date, has edited or co-edited eleven books. This is in addition to her more than 80 articles and book chapters in prestigious journals and edited collections.
At the conferring ceremony in O’Reilly Hall, our colleague, Professor Imelda Maher, delivered a wonderful tribute to Professor de Búrca before a large audience of graduating students and their families. Professor Maher took the opportunity to outline Professor de Búrca’s many achievements and her unrivalled contribution to the field of law. She described how Professor de Búrca has been an inspiration for generations of law students, with a distinctive voice which is rigorous, original, exacting in legal analysis, while engaging with and advancing debates on governance and law. Professor Maher added that her scholarship has advanced the boundaries of our knowledge and understanding of law which is why UCD is proud to award her with an honorary doctorate.
Professor Maher’s full citation for Professor Gráinne de Búrca can be read at this link.
Further Learning in Employment Law
We are delighted to offer graduates of the Professional Diploma in Employment Law the chance to attend a number of update lectures in 2023. Graduates of the Diploma may register at the booking link below to attend the following lectures in the 2023 Diploma programme:
1 February 2023: Practice and Procedure before the WRC and Labour Court (Kevin Roche BL)
This lecture will include an examination of developments since the Supreme Court decision in Zalewski, including the enactment of the Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 and the adoption of the Labour Court Rules 2022.
1 March 2023: Protected Disclosures (Dr Lauren Kierans BL)
This lecture will examine the changes to the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 brought about by the implementation of Directive 2019/1937/EU through the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022.
30* March 2023: Gender Pay Equality (Dr Sara La Huerta)
This lecture will examine the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and the Employment Equality Act 1998 (Section 20A) (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations (S.I. No. 264 of 2022).
5 April 2023: Organisation of Working Time (Anthony Kerr SC)
This lecture will include an examination of recent decisions of the CJEU on the status of “standby/on-call time” (Case C-344/19, Radiotelevisija Slovenija; Case C-107/19, Dopravni) and annual leave entitlements (Case C-214/16, King; Case C-684/16 Shimizu; Case C-385/17, Hein; Case C-120/21, LB).
12 April 2023: Workplace Privacy (Cathal McGreal BL)
This lecture will include an examination of the implications for workplaces of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the decisions of the ECtHR in Barbulescu and Lopex Ribalda.
Lectures will generally take place on Wednesday evenings between 18:00 and 20:00 in the Sutherland School of Law (*Note: 30 March is a Thursday). The cost to attend an individual lecture is €250 or €1000 for all five. Register below to attend or if you have any queries please email (opens in a new window)lawdiplomas@ucd.ie.