Adjunct & Emeritus

Dr Andrea Ryan was an Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of Limerick, starting in 2002 and sadly retiring in 2024. Her research expertise lies in the areas of EU criminal justice, the European Convention on Human Rights, criminal evidence, comparative criminal procedure, criminal law and sentencing. She has published widely in these areas, including a book with Routledge, Towards a System of European Criminal Justice -The Problem of Admissibility of Evidence. She has acted as national expert for Ireland on a number of cross-jurisdictional studies funded by the European Commission, and we are lucky to retain her knowledge in the CCJVS.

View Dr Ryan's research profile here.

The Hon. Mr Justice John Edwards
Mr Justice John Edwards was called to the Bar in 1983 and began practice in 1984. He was a member of the South-Western Circuit and the Munster Bar throughout his time in practice and was State Prosecutor for County Kerry. In June 2007, Mr Justice Edwards was appointed to the High Court when he also became an ex officio Bencher of Kings Inns and was the judge in charge of the High Court Extradition and European Arrest Warrant list. In 2014, Mr Justice Edwards was appointed to the newly formed Court of Appeal. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, holds a diploma in International Commercial Arbitration and is secretary of the Association of Judges of Ireland. Mr Justice Edwards has published articles, lectured, and has contributed to seminars in the areas of criminal law, family law, child protection and extradition.

His Hon. Judge Tom O’Donnell
Having qualified as a solicitor in 1976, His Honour Judge Tom O’ Donnell acted as a member of the Limerick Legal Aid Panel where he developed an extensive criminal defence practice, operating in the District Court, the Circuit Criminal Court, and the Central Criminal Court. In 1991, he joined the firm of Holmes O’Malley Sexton and in 1998 was nominated to be a Judge of the District Court. In 2003, he was appointed to the District Court Rules Committee. He was subsequently appointed to the Digital Audio Recording Project Board in 2004 and in 2009 was instrumental in the introduction of video link facilities between Limerick District Court and Limerick Prison. His Honour Judge Tom O’ Donnell holds a diploma on the European Convention on Human Rights from UCD and a Master’s degree in International Human Rights from NUIG. In 2007, he was further awarded a diploma on International Human Rights and Criminal Procedure by the International Bar Association. He is the author of many articles in the Judicial Studies Institute Journal. In 2011, His Honour Judge Tom O’ Donnell was appointed a Judge of the Circuit Court and in 2012 was elected to the Interim Judicial Council.

Ms Ellen O’Malley Dunlop
Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop has served as CEO for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and has become a highly respected advocate for the rights of victims of sexual violence in this jurisdiction. Ellen gained a wealth of experience in lobbying government, designing and commissioning research studies and overseeing and publicly presenting national publicity awareness campaigns about sexual violence, such as their highly successful recent #AskConsent campaign. Ellen has also published widely about victims’ rights and appears regularly on media broadcasts on this topic. Ellen is a qualified psychotherapist and a founder member of the MSC master’s programme in Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy in Trinity College. She has served as member of the board of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, the task force for the Child and Family Agency and she was also the Chair of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy.

Dr Ciaran McCullagh
In 1973, he graduated with a B. Social Science from UCD. A Master’s degree in Sociology in UCC followed in 1976. He went to the London School of Economics and Political Science, with the assistance of an ESRI fellowship, and graduated with a Master’s of Science in Sociology in 1977. This was awarded with distinction, the highest award category that the LSE then offered. He was appointed to a lectureship in UCC in 1978 and to a senior lectureship in 1996. After some initial work in the sociology of development, his future teaching and research focused mainly on two areas, the sociology of deviance and the sociology of the mass media. His book, Crime in Ireland: A Sociological Introduction was published in 1996. A second edition is due to appear in 2018. The Sociology of Media Power: An Introduction was published in 2002 and translated into Chinese in 2004. He has been president of the Sociological Association of Ireland, won an Arts Faculty Achievement Award in 2004, wrote a weekly column for two newspapers in Cork, and was an elected member of the governing body in UCC from 2007 to 2012 and of the NUI. He was also involved in Oscail, the online university. He served as a board member of the Cork Auto Diversion Project. Along with colleagues in Law, he set up a Master’s degree in Criminology in UCC. In 2005, the NUI awarded him a D. Lit on the basis of published work. In 2011, he received an Irish Penal Symposium Award. He retired in 2012 but continues to write and research in both areas. A full list of publications is available online.

Mr Jack Nicholas BL (Adjunct Lecturer)
Mr Nicholas graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree (Hons.) in Business and Legal Studies from UCD in 2005. In 2007, he was awarded a Barrister at Law Degree (Merit) from Kings Inns and has since practised at the Bar. The main focus of Mr Nicholas’ work as a barrister involves civil litigation, in particular contract law, company law, landlord and tenant law, judicial review and employment law. Moreover, he has gained considerable experience in engaging with alternative dispute resolution. Mr Nicholas works as a mediator and adjudicator with the Private Residential Tenancies Board and also as a mediator with Mediation Solutions Ireland.