Jim O'Callaghan, a barrister with extensive experience, has been appointed as Attorney General of Ireland. He will lead the Department of Justice, overseeing domestic affairs and migration. O'Callaghan previously declined a ministerial position, preferring to serve as a backbench TD. His key responsibilities include advancing the Defamation Bill, a reform stalled by the previous government.
Mr O’Callaghan, who has worked as a barrister since 1993 and has been a senior counsel since 2008, was appointed by Micheál Martin to head up the department, which will also cover Domestic Affairs and Migration, on Thursday.
Among the tasks awaiting Mr O’Callaghan will be to take up work done on reforming defamation laws, progressed by the last Government but which were not passed before it left office. Asked if Mr O’Callaghan intended to seek to amend the current bill as it related to juries or whether he would proceed with it in its current form, the department pointed to the Government commitment to restore the “existing Defamation Bill to the order paper” and said Mr O’Callaghan “intends to deliver upon this commitment”.
Mr O’Callaghan’s legal work has on occasion attracted political comment – including from Coalition partners Fine Gael. In the last days before the General Election in 2020, then Fine Gael Cabinet minister Regina Doherty suggested his work on behalf of former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams could represent a conflict of interest.
ATTORNEY GENERAL IRELAND JIM O'callaghan DEFAMATION BILL JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
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