Mary Ellen Ring
Irish barrister, High Court judge since 2015
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary Ellen Ring (born 1955)[1] is an American-Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the High Court since July 2015. She previously served as Chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission from 2015 and 2021 and a Judge of the Circuit Court from 2012 to 2015.
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Mary Ellen Ring | |
|---|---|
Ring in 2015 | |
| Judge of the High Court | |
| Assumed office 9 July 2015 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Michael D. Higgins |
| Chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission | |
| In office August 2015 – 11 December 2021 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Preceded by | Simon O'Brien |
| Succeeded by | Rory MacCabe |
| Judge of the Circuit Court | |
| In office 20 April 2012 – 9 July 2015 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Michael D. Higgins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 April 1955 Norwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | |
Early career
Ring was born in and grew up in Norwich, Connecticut in the United States with her Irish parents.[2][3] She attended the Norwich Free Academy, graduating in 1973, before moving to Ireland.[2] She studied Politics and Philosophy at University College Dublin and law at Dublin Institute of Technology.[4] She studied at the King's Inns and became a barrister in 1985. She became a senior counsel in 2002.[4] Her practice was primarily focused on criminal law, administrative law and child law.[5] She was counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions in the 2004 trial against Judge Brian Curtin for possession child pornography[6] and in the 2010 case against Eamonn Lillis for the manslaughter of his wife Celine Cawley.[7]
She was the chair of the Irish Women Lawyers' Association.[8] The organisation awarded her the title of Woman of the Year in 2018.[5] She co-founded the Children's Legal Centre and the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development.[4][3] She was appointed to the Advisory Group on Criminal Law and Procedure in 1996 by Minister for Justice Nora Owen.[9]
Judicial career
Circuit Court
Ring was appointed to the Circuit Court in April 2012.[4] She was assigned to the Dublin circuit.[10] She initially presided over Court Five, which was considered "by far the busiest circuit court in the country".[8]
She was the trial judge in case which found Heather Perrin, a judge of the District Court, guilty of deception.[11] She presided over the first trial of Seán FitzPatrick, related to an alleged failure to disclose loans to Anglo Irish Bank's external auditors at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.[12] She sentenced former Senator Ivor Callely to five months in prison in 2014 arising out of his filing of fraudulent expenses.[13]
High Court
She was appointed to the High Court in July 2015.[14]
GSOC
Ring became chairperson of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in August 2015.[4] She was reappointed in 2016.[15] She has been critical of the disciplinary procedures within the Garda Síochána.[16] She has sought to increase the numbers of personnel within GSOC since her appointment.[17] She was critical of the police force in May 2018 at a hearing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality for not disclosing some internal investigations into gardaí to GSOC.[18]
Her term finished on 11 December 2021.[19]