Mary Finlay Geoghegan
Irish judge and lawyer
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Mary Finlay Geoghegan (née Finlay; born 1949) is a retired Irish judge and lawyer. She was appointed to the High Court in 2002 and promoted to a newly established Court of Appeal from 2014. She became a judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland from 2017, before retiring in 2019.[citation needed]
Mary Finlay Geoghegan | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the Supreme Court | |
| In office 1 December 2017 – 16 June 2019 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Michael D. Higgins |
| Judge of the Court of Appeal | |
| In office 29 October 2014 – 30 November 2017 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Michael D. Higgins |
| Judge of the High Court | |
| In office 3 July 2002 – 28 October 2014 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Mary McAleese |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mary Finlay 1949 (age 76–77) Naas, County Kildare, Ireland |
| Party | Fine Gael |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, including James |
| Parent |
|
| Relatives |
|
| Education | |
Finlay Geoghegan specialised in commercial law. She originally practised as a solicitor in a corporate law firm, before becoming a barrister where she had a broad commercial and civil practice.[citation needed]
Her judicial career included temporary positions at the European Court of Human Rights and the Referendum Commission.[citation needed]
Early life
Finlay was born to Thomas Finlay and Alice Blayney.[1][2] She is the eldest of five siblings.[3] Her father was the Chief Justice of Ireland between 1985 and 1994.[4] Her paternal grandfather Thomas Finlay was a Cumann na nGaedheal politician. Her mother was called to the Bar in 1946, though never practised.[5] Her maternal uncle John Blayney was also a Supreme Court judge.[6]
She was educated at Sacred Heart Convent, Monkstown, Dublin and obtained a double first BA in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics from University College Dublin.[7][5] At UCD, she played for the university hockey team and in diving was a Leinster Junior champion.[3] She was elected the first female auditor of the UCD L&H, serving between 1970 and 1971.[8] She took over running the society at the age of 21 and described herself as being "an awfully logical person", on account of her mathematical background.[9] Future Supreme Court judge Adrian Hardiman served on her L&H committee.[10] The topic of her inaugural address was the "Just Society" and featured contributions from Mary Robinson, Declan Costello, and Brian Walsh.[11]
She attended the Law Society of Ireland and later studied for a postgraduate course in EEC studies at the College of Europe, Bruges following qualification and on a scholarship.[12][5]
Legal career
Early career
She was admitted as a solicitor in 1973.[12] She practised at McCann, FitzGerald, Roche and Dudley, where she was a partner.[5]
Finlay was subsequently called to the bar in 1980.[12] She devilled for Peter Kelly.[5] As a junior counsel practice included commercial, injunctive and insolvency matters,[13][14] including representing the Irish government in proceedings related to the 1985 collapse of the Insurance Corporation of Ireland.[15] She was called to the Bar of England and Wales at Middle Temple in May 1987.[16]
Senior Counsel
She became a Senior Counsel in 1988.[12] She was called to Bar of Northern Ireland in 1989.[17] She was also called to the New South Wales Bar Association in 1992.[12] She continued practising in commercial matters, including employment and tax law disputes.[18][19] She also appeared in immigration and personal injuries cases.[20][21] She represented Paul McGuinness and Windmill Lane Productions in the judicial review of a decision of the Independent Radio and Television Commission to revoke a licence to establish TV3.[22]
Finlay Geoghegan acted as an independent legal adviser to the State on matters of EC law in 1996.[23] She acted for the Attorney General of Ireland in a reference made by President Mary Robinson under Article 26 of the Constitution of Ireland to the Supreme Court regarding the Employment Equality Bill of 1997.[24] She appeared for RTÉ in constitutional cases in the Supreme Court regarding the need for equal time in referendums coverage.[25]
She is a bencher at the King's Inns since 1996 and Middle Temple since 2012.[16]
Other appointments
Finlay was appointed chair of the National Consumer Advisory Council in 1976.[7] She has been a board member of the Dublin Gas Board, the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and the Temple Street Children's University Hospital, where she was chair between 2001 and 2004.[26][27][28]
She joined the Law Reform Commission in October 1980 as a part-time member to serve a five-year term.[29] She was a convenor of the Constitution Review Group from 1995.[30]
She is currently a board member of the National Children's Research Centre and a governor of the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook.[28]
Judicial career
High Court
She was appointed to the High Court in July 2002, following in the footsteps of her father.[31] Her appointment came at the same time as Michael Peart, who was said to be the first solicitor to be appointed to the High Court, though she had previously been a solicitor.[32] She was assigned to the Commercial list in 2004.[33] Together with Peter Kelly, they were the first judges to preside over a newly established Commercial Court within the High Court in 2004 to hear cases which were complex or with a claim in excess of €1 million.[34] She also has been in charge of the Examiners Court list and The Hague Convention on Child Abduction list.[33]
She was an ad hoc judge of the European Court of Human Rights between 2009 and 2010.[12] She was a member of the court which heard A, B and C v Ireland which found that Ireland had breached Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights for failure to provide abortion services.[35]
Court of Appeal
The establishment of the Court of Appeal in 2014 led to her appointment as one of the first six ordinary judges to be appointed to the court.[36] She was also a member of a working group convened prior to its foundation.[12]
She served as chairperson of the Referendum Commission for the 31st Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.[4]
Supreme Court
On 7 November 2017, the Government of Ireland nominated her for appointment by the President of Ireland to the Supreme Court.[37] She was appointed by the President on 1 December 2017.[38]
Finlay Geoghegan retired as a judge on 16 June 2019.[39] The Chief Justice Frank Clarke described her judicial contribution as "meticulous and firm" and marked by "an overlay of lightness and a deep underlay of humanity".[26] Upon her retirement, she reflected on her belief in the need for more members of the judiciary to be appointed in Ireland in order for justice to be properly administered.[5]
Personal life
She married Hugh Geoghegan in 1981, who was also a Judge of the High Court and later a Judge of the Supreme Court.[5] Geoghegan is the son of Supreme Court judge James Geoghegan. Finlay Geoghegan and Geoghegan have two daughters and a son,[40] including James who is a barrister and TD for the constituency of Dublin Bay South since 2024[41] and was the Fine Gael candidate in the 2021 Dublin Bay South by-election.[42] Geoghegan's husband died on 7 July 2024, at the age of 86.[43][44][45]