Ms Justice Tara Burns, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh yesterday presided over a criminal appeal brought on behalf of a Limerick man convicted of assault causing serious harm in relation to a 2017 machete attack.

The Irish Women Lawyers’ Association (IWLA) congratulated the judges in a LinkedIn post, adding: “Ruth Bader Ginsburg said ‘women belong in all places where decisions are being made, it shouldn’t be that women are the exception’ and we are delighted to see that coming true in Ireland.”

In 2020, the Supreme Court sitting as a five-judge panel with four women judges was similarly welcomed as a positive sign of the increasing diversity of the Irish judiciary.