Mary Rose Gearty is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court since December 2019. She was previously practiced as a barrister involved primarily in criminal trials involving serious offences.

Education

Gearty attended secondary school at

Muckross Park College , former_name = St. Mary's University College , logo = , motto = la, Veritas , motto_translation = Truth , type = Private secondary school , gender = Girls , established = , ...

and she obtained a BCL law degree from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

in 1990. She subsequently studied at the King's Inns and King's College London.

Legal career

She was called to the Bar in 1992 and commenced practice in 1993, predominantly on the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Circuit. She became a senior counsel in 2009. Gearty specialised in criminal law. She prosecuted and defended in trials involving murder, manslaughter and sexual offences. She was one of two senior counsels to act for the Director of Public Prosecutions in the prosecution of

David Drumm David Kenneth Drumm (born November 1966) is an Irish banking executive. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Anglo Irish Bank from 2005 until 2008. In 2018, he was convicted of fraud for actions during his time there related to the Anglo Irish B ...

. After 86 days of trial, he was found guilty of false accounting and conspiracy to defraud the public. She acted for the DPP in actions arising from the prosecution of Tony Walsh. In 2014, she was appointed by the Minister for Justice and Equality as the sole member and chair of the MacLochlainn Commission. Her role was to investigate the shooting of Ronan MacLochlainn by members of the Garda Síochána in 1998 during an attempted robbery. After receiving four extensions, her final report was published in December 2018. She found that the shooting was justified but that the Garda investigation had deficiencies. She provided legal advice for a scoping inquiry into the CervicalCheck cancer scandal. She served as vice chair of the Bar Council and during her time as a barrister chaired committees on internal and external relations, advanced advocacy, and professional services. She was a director of

Our Lady's Hospice Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services is a hospice and health care provider with two locations: one at Harold's Cross, Dublin and a satellite facility at Blackrock, County Dublin in Ireland. It provides specialist care for people with a range of n ...

, filling a vacancy left by

Donal O'Donnell Donal Gerard O'Donnell (born 25 October 1957) is an Irish judge who is the Chief Justice of Ireland since October 2021. He has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland since January 2010. He practised as a barrister between 1982 and 20 ...

. She lectured at the King's Inns and

Griffith College Dublin Griffith College ( ga, Coláiste Uí Ghríofa) is one of the two largest, and one of the longest-established private, third level (higher education) colleges in Ireland. Overview Established in 1974, with four campuses in Dublin, Cork and Li ...

and was a founder of the Irish Criminal Bar Association.

Judicial career

Gearty was appointed to the High Court in December 2019. She has heard cases involving tax law, judicial review, family law, injunctions, bail and defamation. Since 2020, she is the Director of Judicial Studies for the Irish judiciary. She is the judge in charge of the Hague Convention List of the High Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gearty, Mary Rose Living people High Court judges (Ireland) Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of King's College London Irish women judges Alumni of King's Inns 21st-century Irish judges 21st-century women judges Year of birth missing (living people)