George Martin Birmingham (born 3 August 1954) is an Irish judge who has served as President of the Court of Appeal since April 2018 and a Judge of the Court of Appeal since October 2014. He previously served as a judge of the High Court from 2007 to 2014. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-Central constituency from 1981 to 1989 and as a Minister of State from 1982 to 1987.[1]
In February 1986, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs and Development Co-operation. He was succeeded as Minister of State for Youth Affairs by Enda Kenny.[18] The government had considered creating a cabinet-level rank of Minister for European Affairs for Gemma Hussey to coordinate EEC affairs, but instead opted to appoint Birmingham to a Minister of State position, becoming the first Minister of State for European Affairs. Some EEC business was delegated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Birmingham.[19] He travelled to Lusaka later that year for discussions with the African National Congress.[20]
Return to opposition
At the 1987 general election, Birmingham was re-elected to the Dáil despite he and constituency colleague Richard Bruton together polling only achieving 24% of the vote combined.[21] Fine Gael lost office, and Birmingham was appointed party spokesperson for Labour by Alan Dukes in 1987 and subsequently Education in 1988.[22][23] He proposed that injunctions restraining strikes should be not be held ex parte and that unofficial strikes should be banned.[24] In March 1988, he introduced the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Bill 1988, an unsuccessful private members' bill, into the Dáil, to change the time limits for personal injuries.[25]
He served as chairperson of the Censorship of Publications Appeals Board.[30] He was appointed to chair the Advisory Group on Criminal Law and Procedure in 1996 by Minister for JusticeNora Owen.[31]
Birmingham was the sole member of the Commission of Investigation into the Dean Lyons case.[32] He conducted a preliminary investigation for the government prior to the Ferns Report into allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns.[2]
Judicial career
On 3 May 2007, it was announced that he had been selected to become a High Court judge. He became a Judge of the High Court in June 2007.[33]
In October 2014, he became one of the first appointees as Judge of the Court of Appeal on its establishment.[34]
Birmingham's nomination attracted political controversy,[36][37] in light of his time as a Fine Gael TD and Minister of State during the 1980s.[38]
In 2018, he noted the difficulty posed to the court in not having enough judges to hear appeals.[39] There was a change in legislation in 2019 to increase the number of judges in order to speed up the appellate process, increasing the number of Court of Appeal judges to fifteen.[40]
References
^"George Birmingham". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2013.