Stellar line-up for law conference at University of Galway
Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin is the keynote speaker at the conference.
International experts and leading barristers from Ireland, the US, Australia and the UK will address a conference on the challenge of facilitating jury trials for terrorism and organised crime at a two-day conference hosted by the School of Law, University of Galway in association with Birmingham Law School on February 16th and 17th in University of Galway.
The event, which is being co-organised by Swinford-born Professor Donncha O’Connell, of University of Galway, and Dr Alan Greene, of Birmingham Law School, will hear a keynote address from Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, MRIA KC, Regents Professor and Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota and Professor of Law at Queen’s University Belfast. Professor Ní Aoláin, who has just completed her mandate as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, is a member of the International Commission of Jurists and has just been made an honorary King’s Counsel in recognition of her outstanding work.
The conference will also hear from leading criminal barristers in Ireland and Scotland, Brendan Grehan SC, Alice Harrison BL and Ronnie Renucci KC, in a session focused on practitioner perspectives on Day Two of the conference, which will be chaired by Supreme Court judge, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley. Mr Grehan, who is a graduate of University of Galway, has defended and prosecuted in the Special Criminal Court, most recently acting as defence counsel for Gerard Hutch, who was acquitted of the Regency Hotel murder.
Speaking ahead of the event, Professor O’Connell, who was member of the Independent Review Group on the Offences Against the State Acts chaired by retired Court of Appeal judge, Michael Peart, which reported in June 2023, said:
“Following on from the work of the Review Group – which published a majority and minority report but was unanimous in recommending repeal and replacement of the Offences Against the State Acts – this conference aims to explore the options open to Ireland when conducting trials for terrorism and organised crime, bearing in mind the priority attached to the right to trial by jury under the Irish Constitution. We hope to draw on the comparative expertise of academics and practitioners and relevant international standards in considering the likely shape of legislation to replace the Offences Against the State Acts at some stage in the future."
The conference should be of interest to human rights activists, legal practitioners, members of An Garda Síochána and others working in the administration of justice and criminal justice policy.
