Mr William Hamilton, the son of the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Liam Hamilton, (photographed above) was among 58 barristers who were called to the Bar at the Supreme Court in Dublin yesterday. Also made a barrister was a Co Kerry woman who has been blind since birth. Ms Betty O'Leary (25), of Cork Road, Killarney, (pictured right with her Labrador guide dog, Susie), was accompanied by her parents, Mr Sean O'Leary and Ms Betty O'Leary, for the ceremony at the Four Courts.
Second-youngest of a family of 10, nine of whom are alive, Ms O'Leary was educated at St Mary's, Merrion Road, Dublin, before going to TCD, where she obtained a law degree. For the past two years, she has studied with the help of braille to be a barrister at the King's Inns, Dublin. She intends to begin "devilling" with a barrister in the courts in the coming year.