Isobel Kennedy is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

since November 2018. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2015 to 2018 and Chairperson of the

Referendum Commission A Referendum Commission () was an independent statutory body in Ireland which had been set up in advance of referendums in Ireland from 1998 to 2019. The Referendum Act 1998 as amended by the Referendum Act 2001 provided for the establishment of ...

from March 2018 to November 2018. Kennedy is from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. She obtained a BCL degree in 1986 from University College Cork and began practising as a barrister in 1988. She specialised in

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

. She served on the Barristers' Professional Conduct Tribunal of the

Bar of Ireland The Bar of Ireland () is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

and was a member of the Bar Council between 1995 and 1997. She became a senior counsel in 2003. Kennedy acted as a barrister for the Investigation Committee of the

Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known ...

. She became a High Court judge in February 2015. She was nominated following a selection process by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board. She acted as Judge on the

Special Criminal Court The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases. Legal basis Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to establish "special courts" with ...

until 2018. Kennedy twice served as chairperson to the

, serving for the referendum to allow the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion and the referendum to remove blasphemy from the Constitution. The referendum on abortion had the highest voter turnout in a referendum since the establishment of the commission. Kennedy recommended in a report to the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

that the Commission be replaced with "a permanent Electoral Commission". She became a Judge of the

in November 2018. Kennedy's appointment to the Court of Appeal at the same time as

Caroline Costello Caroline Costello is an Irish judge who has served as President of the Court of Appeal since July 2024 and a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2018. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2018. Costello gradu ...

led to the first Irish court with a gender-balanced number of judges. She currently serves on the Advisory Committee to the School of Law at the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Isobel Living people Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) High Court judges (Ireland) 21st-century Irish judges 20th-century Irish lawyers Alumni of the University of Oxford Lawyers from Limerick (city) Year of birth missing (living people) Chairpersons of the Referendum Commission 21st-century Irish women judges Irish Senior Counsel