The nominations, along with those of three new District Court judges, were agreed by ministers yesterday.

One of the Court of Appeal vacancies is a result of the creation of an additional post through recent legislation, while the other arises from the appointment of Ms Justice Caroline Costello as president of the Court of Appeal earlier this month.

Mr Justice McDonald has been a High Court judge since April 2018. Educated at Trinity College Dublin and the King’s Inns, he called to the Bar in 1986 and to the Inner Bar in 2000. He chaired the Irish Takeover Panel from 2010 until 2018.

Mr Collins was an advocate-general of the Court of Justice of the European Union from 2021 until 2024, and before that a judge of the General Court of the European Union from 2013. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the King’s Inns, calling to the Bar in 1986 and the Inner Bar in 2003.

The vacancy in the High Court arose from the recent appointment of Ms Justice Niamh Hyland to the Court of Appeal.

Ms Phelan’s nomination comes just months after the end of her two-year term as chair of the Bar Council, during which she led the profession through the unprecedented withdrawal of services in October 2023 and July 2024 to pressure the government over legal aid fee restoration.

She was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the King’s Inns, and called to the Bar in 1996 and to the Inner Bar in 2013.

Three District Court vacancies have arisen following the Judge Cormac Dunne in June, the passing of Judge Elizabeth MacGrath in July and the retirement of Judge Marian O’Leary in August.

Solicitors Peter White and Catherine Ghent, and solicitor and barrister Áine Clancy, have been nominated to fill the vacancies.

“The government has taken the necessary steps to formally advise President Higgins of the nominations in accordance with constitutional procedure,” the government said in a statement.