Mayo native appointed to Council of State

SWINFORD native Professor Donncha O’Connell has been appointed to the Council of State by President Catherine Connolly.

The constitutional body advises the President on the exercise of certain powers such as the referral of Bills to the Supreme Court, with seven people appointed to serve this week.

An Established Professor of law at University of Galway, Mr. O’Connell served two terms as a Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission and was also a member of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and a board member of the Legal Aid Board. More recently, he was a member of the Independent Review Group to consider the Offences Against the State Acts.

Professor O’Connell joined the staff of University of Galway in 1993 and became an Established Professor in 2013. He has served terms as Dean of the Faculty of Law and Head of the School of Law.

He has served on the boards of a number of human rights organisations including, INTERIGHTS, FLAC and Amnesty International - Ireland, and was the first full-time director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). He was the Irish member of the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights and, later, the senior Irish member of FRALEX, the legal expert group that advised the EU Fundamental Rights Agency based in Vienna.

He also served for over nine years on the board of the internationally-acclaimed Druid Theatre Company.

President Connolly said of the appointees: “These seven members bring a unique expertise and range of experience to the Council of State which will be of immense value in considering the matters which may arise over the course of my term of office. I look forward to receiving their advice and support over the next seven years.”