The Government has appointed two new members to the Law Reform Commission, one part time, the other full time.
Finola Flanagan, former director general of the Office of the Attorney General, has been appointed as full-time commissioner. She replaces Patricia Rickard Clarke, who has just retired, and will serve until the end of February 2015.
Donncha O’Connell, lecturer in law at NUI Galway, has been appointed as a part-time commissioner. He replaces Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell, who has resigned. He has also recently been appointed as a member of the Legal Aid Board. As a public servant, he is not remunerated in either role.
A new Defence Forces deputy chief of staff support has become the first person appointed under a new competitive promotion scheme. Brig Gen Conor O’Boyle’s promotion to major general by the Government came under the new competitive merit-based scheme introduced earlier this year.
Gen O’Boyle, who joined the Defence Forces in 1970 and spent three years as deputy Irish military representative at the Irish permanent representation to the EU in Brussels, succeeds Maj Gen David Ashe, who has retired.