THE GOVERNMENT has nominated High Court judge Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins to the European Court of First Instance. His term of office runs for six years, and he replaced Judge John Cooke, who is returning to Ireland.
He is one of the longest-serving judges in the country, having first been appointed to the Circuit Court in 1986. He became a High Court judge in 1997.
Born in 1946, he was educated in Crescent College Limerick and Clongowes Wood College, before attending UCD and the Kings Inns. He was called to the bar in 1968, and built up an extensive practice, mainly in criminal law.
While a judge of the Circuit Court he sat for many years in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, and has recently been sitting in the Central Criminal Court. However, before that he heard family law in the High Court. He is the Irish representative on the consultative Council of European Judges.
The European Court of First Instance was set up by the Single European Act. It is attached to the European Court of Justice, and is made up of at least one judge from each member state.
It sits in chambers of five or three judges or, in some cases, as a single judge. It hears direct actions brought by natural or legal persons against acts of community institutions (addressed to them or directly concerning them as individuals) or against a failure to act.
Matters relating to the interpretation of European law are heard by the European Court of Justice. It hears appeals on points of law from the Court of First Instance.