Mary C. Irvine is an Irish judge who is the President of the Irish High Court, the first woman appointed to that role. She first was a Judge of the High Court between 2007 to 2014. She was a Judge of the Court of Appeal from 2014 to 2019 and served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland from May 2019 until becoming President of the High Court on 18 June 2020. She is an ex officio member of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. She was nominated to become the President of the High Court in June 2020. In addition to being the first woman to hold that position, she is the first judge to have held four judicial offices.
She was called to the Bar in 1978, and became a Senior Counsel in 1996. She was the secretary of the Bar Council of Ireland in 1992. She was elected a Bencher of the King's Inns in 2004. Irvine specialised in medical law, appearing in medical negligence cases on behalf of and against health boards in actions. She was a legal advisor to an inquiry into Deposit interest retention tax conducted by the Public Accounts Committee, along with future judicial colleagues Frank Clarke and Paul Gilligan. She represented the Congregation of Christian Brothers at the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. Her practice also extended to constitutional law. As a junior counsel, she acted for the plaintiff in Cahill v. Sutton in 1980 in the Supreme Court with seniors Niall McCarthy and James O'Driscoll. The case established the modern Irish law of standing for applicants to challenge the constitutional validity of statutes. She appeared with Peter Kelly to argue on behalf the right of the unborn in a reference made by President Mary Robinson under Article 26 of the Constitution to the Supreme Court in 1995 regarding the Information Bill 1995.
Irvine was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in June 2007. She was in charge of the High Court Personal Injuries list from 2009 to 2014 and subsequently became the second Chair of the Working Group on Medical Negligence and Periodic Payments, established by the President of the High Court.
Court of Appeal
She was appointed to Court of Appeal on its establishment in October 2014. Some of her judgments on the Court of Appeal reduced awards given by lower courts for personal injuries compensation. She wrote "most of the key" Court of Appeal judgments between 2015 and 2017 which had the effect of reducing awards arising from subsequent actions in the High Court. She was appointed to chair a statutory tribunal to conduct hearings and deal with cases related to the CervicalCheck cancer scandal in 2019. However following her appointment as President of the High Court in 2020, she was unable to continue with the position.
Supreme Court
On 4 April 2019, she was nominated by the Government of Ireland as a Judge of the Supreme Court. She was appointed by the President of Ireland on 13 May 2019. She wrote decisions for the court in appeals involving planning law, the law of tort, intellectual property law, judicial review, and chancery law. Irvine was appointed by Chief Justice Frank Clarke in 2019 to chair the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Council. The purpose of the committee is to review the levels of compensation issues in court cases arising out of personal injuries. Minister of State at the Department of Finance Michael W. D'Arcy wrote a letter to congratulate Irvine on her appointment and outlined his views that personal injuries awards in Ireland should be "recalibrated". She responded to the letter by saying it was the not the Committee's duty to tailor its findings "in a manner favourable to any particular interest group".
President of the High Court
Following a cabinet meeting on 12 June 2020, it was announced that she would be nominated to succeed Peter Kelly as President of the High Court. A three person panel consisting of the Chief Justice Frank Clarke, the Attorney GeneralSéamus Woulfe and a management consultant Jane Williams reviewed applications for the position, before making recommendations to cabinet. The President of the Law Society of Ireland welcomed her appointment, describing her as a "outstandingly able judge". She is the first woman to hold the role. As she was previously an ordinary judge of three courts, her appointment as President of the High Court made her the first person to have held four judicial offices. She was appointed on 18 June 2020 and made her judicial declaration on 19 June. She took over as President in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. She issued guidelines for lawyers to negotiate personal injuries cases outside of court due to the backlog formed by delays in hearings. She issued a practice direction in July 2020 that face coverings were to be worn at High Court hearings. In her first week as President, she presided over a three-judge division of the High Court in a case taken by a number of members of Seanad Éireann. The plaintiffs sought a declaration that the Seanad should sit even though the nominated members of Seanad Éireann had not been appointed. The court refused the relief and found for the State. She continues to sit in the Supreme Court following her appointment.
Personal life
Irvine was formerly married to retired judge Michael Moriarty, with whom she has three children.
