Frank Clarke

On 26 July 2017, it was announced that the Government of Ireland had agreed to nominate Judge Clarke for appointment by the President of Ireland as the next Chief Justice of Ireland, to succeed Susan Denham on the expiry of her term of office. He was the sole name put forward to cabinet for consideration. He applied for the position which included a 500 word application. Upon his appointment, he said it was not "unreasonable" to suggest that he was "socially progressive", while acknowledging his oath of judicial independence.

Clarke identified his priorities upon appointment to be to increase access to justice and the legal profession, to improve support and training for judges, and to expand the use of technology in the courts. He oversaw the first live broadcast of the Supreme Court on television in October 2017. The Supreme Court held sittings in Limerick and NUI Galway in 2018 and 2019, the second and third times hearings took place outside of Dublin.

Clarke was appointed to the Supreme Court on the 9 February 2012.

He was appointed a Judge of the High Court in 2004. He was chairman of the Referendum Commission for the second Lisbon Treaty referendum in 2009. As a High Court judge he gave a ruling, on the Leas Cross nursing home case against RTÉ, that the public interest justified the broadcasting of material that otherwise would have been protected by the right to privacy. He frequently presided over the Commercial Court during his time at the High Court. He was involved in the establishment of two High Court lists in Cork, Chancery and a Non-Jury List.

He was Chairman of the Bar Council of Ireland from 1993 to 1995. Between 1999 and 2004, he acted as chair of Council of King's Inns. He was a Professor at the Kings's Inns between 1978 and 1985 and was appointed an Adjunct Professor at University College Cork in 2014. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin.

He appeared for the plaintiff with Michael McDowell and Gerard Hogan in Cox v Ireland in 1990, where the Supreme Court first introduced proportionality into Irish constitutional law and discovered the right to earn a livelihood. He represented Seán Ardagh and the Oireachtas Subcommittee formed after the death of John Carthy in a constitutional case which limited the powers of investigation of the Oireachtas, which led to the unsuccessful Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution.

Clarke represented Michael McGimpsey and his brother Christopher in a challenge against the constitutionality of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which was ultimately unsuccessful in the Supreme Court in 1988.

Clarke was twice appointed by the Supreme Court for the purpose of Article 26 references. He argued on behalf of the Law Society of Ireland in a referral regarding the Adoption (No. 2) Bill 1987. He was appointed by the Supreme Court to appear to argue on behalf of the rights of the mother in In re Article 26 and the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Bill 1995.

He joined Fine Gael after leaving school. He was a speechwriter for Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and election agent for George Birmingham, he then subsequently, himself, ran for election to Seanad Éireann. He campaigned against the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland in 1983 and in favour of the unsuccessful Tenth Amendment of the Constitution in 1986.

He has been married to Dr. Jacqueline Hayden since 1977. They have a son who is a barrister and a daughter who is a carer. He is interested in horse racing and rugby.

He was called to the Bar in 1973 and to the Inner Bar in 1985. He had a practice in commercial, constitutional and family law. Two years after commencing practice he appeared as junior counsel for the applicant in State (Healy) v Donoghue before the Supreme Court, which established a constitutional right to legal aid in criminal cases.

George Bernard Francis "Frank" Clarke (born 10 October 1951) is an Irish judge who has been the Chief Justice of Ireland since July 2017, having been appointed by President Michael D. Higgins. He has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court since February 2012. He previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2004 to 2012.

Clarke was born on 10 October 1951, in Walkinstown, Dublin. He is the son of a customs officer who died when he was aged eleven; his mother was a secretary. He was educated at Drimnagh Castle Secondary School, a Christian Brothers secondary school in Dublin. He studied Economics and Maths at undergraduate level in University College Dublin, while he concurrently studied to become a barrister at King's Inns. He was the first of his family to attend third level education. While attending University College Dublin, he lost an election to Adrian Hardiman to become auditor of the L&H.