Patricia Ryan (judge)

Patricia Ryan is an Irish judge who has been the President of the Circuit Court since 2019. She was appointed to the Circuit Court in 2002 and was formerly a barrister.

The Hon. Ms. Justice Patricia Ryan
President of the Circuit Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 July 2019
Nominated by	Government of Ireland
Appointed by	Michael D. Higgins
Preceded by	Raymond Groarke
Judge of the Circuit Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2002
Nominated by	Government of Ireland
Appointed by	Mary McAleese
Personal details
Nationality	Irish
Spouse	Brian Lenihan Jnr ​ ​ (m. 1997; died 2011)​
Alma mater	University College Dublin King's Inns

Early life

Ryan attended University College Dublin and the King's Inns. She was called to the Irish Bar in 1984.^[1] She acted in cases including those involving personal injuries.^[2][3]

She was appointed a vice-chairperson of the Employment Appeals Tribunal in 1998 and was re-appointed in 2001.^[4]

Judicial career

Circuit Court

Ryan was nominated to the Circuit Court in June 2002 and appointed in July 2002.^[5][6] She has presided over criminal law trials involving dangerous driving, manslaughter, fraud, sexual offences, theft, harassment, health and safety law, and drugs offences.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

She sat on the Special Criminal Court.^[15]

President of the Circuit Court

She became the President of the Circuit Court in July 2019.^[16][17]

Personal life

Ryan married Brian Lenihan Jnr in 1997 with whom she had two children. Lenihan died in 2011.^[18][19]

References

1. . merrionstreet.ie. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
2. "Brother to share crash damages". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
3. "£10,000 award for broken nose". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
4. "Written Answers. - Ministerial Appointments". Oireachtas. 9 October 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
5. Coulter, Carol. "Nine new judges named include a solicitor". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
6. "No. 54 – 749" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 5 July 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
7. Traynor, Vivienne (11 May 2018). "Man sentenced for dangerous driving causing death". RTÉ News. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
8. "Manslaughter jury warned over media coverage". RTÉ News. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
9. "Dutch man jailed over €200,000 social welfare fraud". RTÉ News. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
10. "Man pleads guilty to six sexual offences against girl". RTÉ News. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
11. "Former solicitor jailed for stealing from clients". RTÉ News. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
12. "Man gets five years for harassment". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
13. "Builders fined €10,000 over unsafe machine". independent. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
14. "Cocaine plea". independent. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
15. "Two men appear in court charged with IRA membership". RTÉ News. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
16. "No. 59 – 1047" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
17. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). JAAB. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
18. "Brian Lenihan: a life in politics". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
19. Maume, Patrick (March 2021). "Lenihan, Brian". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 5 January 2022.