The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer of the State responsible for prosecuting, in the name of the people of Ireland, those accused of crimes.
The office was set up as an entity separate from the office of the Attorney General in 1974, and for most of its existence it was held by one man, Mr Eamon Barnes, who retired in 1999. He was replaced by Mr James Hamilton (52), then director-general of the Attorney General's office.
Although he has stressed his continuity with his predecessor, especially in defence of his independence, the style of Mr Hamilton has differed from that of Mr Barnes, especially in his desire to bring as much transparency as possible to the operation of the office and the solicitors and barristers working for it.
This is most obvious in the publication record of the office. In his last year in office Mr Barnes produced his one and only annual report, outlining the reasons why he consistently refused to engage in public discussion of his decisions.
While supporting that general principle, Mr Hamilton has sought to give as much information as he feels he can about his policy and priorities.
He is highly thought of by his colleagues in the legal profession, and worked as a barrister on the Northern circuit from 1973 to 1981.
In that year he joined the Attorney General's office, where he rose steadily.
He is interested in the broader, more political dimensions of the law, and in the importance of the rule of law in international affairs.
He was the most senior public official to volunteer as a UN observer in the Cambodian elections and was part of the EU delegation monitoring the South African elections, and on the Irish team negotiating the Belfast Agreement.
He was born into a middle class Church of Ireland family, and was educated in the Hibernian Marine school in Clontarf and the High School, before studying history and political science in Trinity College.
His professional reputation is for toughness, combined with caution, but socially he is gregarious with an irreverent wit and a vast fund of stories.