ICCL Staff

L-R Liz Farries, Chris McCartin, Maeve O’Rourke, Sinéad Nolan and Liam Herrick.

 

 

 

 

Liam Herrick was appointed to Executive Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) in November 2016.  Prior to his appointment, he worked as Advisor to President Michael D. Higgins for almost three years. Liam was Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) between 2007 and 2014. He has also worked as the first head of legislation and policy at the former Irish Human Rights Commission and with the Law Reform Commission and the Department of Foreign Affairs. He is a former member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), a former Board member of the Children’s Rights Alliance and the Minister for Justice and Equality’s Strategic Review Group on Penal Policy (2012-2014). Liam graduated from University College Cork with a BCL and LLM and from University College Dublin with a Diploma in Human Rights Law.

 

Maeve O’RourkeMaeve O’Rourke is Senior Research and Policy Officer for the ICCL. She is called to the Bar of England and Wales and the New York Bar, and has practised in human rights, family law and international mass tort/environmental claims. Maeve has worked for Equality Now and as a researcher at Harvard Law School and the University of Minnesota Law School Human Rights Center. She also provided pro bono legal support to the Justice for Magdalenes/JFM Research group from 2010 to 2017 and co-founded the ‘Clann Project’ with JFM Research and Adoption Rights Alliance in 2015. Maeve teaches regularly on university human rights-related courses. She graduated from University College Dublin with a BCL and from Harvard Law School with an LLM. She is in the final stage of PhD research at Birmingham Law School, focusing on the potential for the rule against torture and ill-treatment to more effectively protect older people.

 

Elizabeth FarriesElizabeth Farries is the Information Rights Project Manager for the Irish Council for Civil Liberties together with the International Network of Civil Law Organizations. She is called to the Bar in British Columbia, and has a practice background in litigation, intellectual property, and human rights. She additionally has policy experience with the Canadian provincial government; has provided legal services to indigenous and impoverished clients in criminal, family law, and human rights matters; and has published work with and sat on the executive board of several NGOs. Elizabeth has a BSc and JD from the University of Victoria, a SSHRC funded Masters from the School of Information at the University of Toronto, and is a Frances E. Moran PhD Candidate at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Law. Her research interests focus on how women’s privacy rights are encroached online. On this and other topics, she has numerous trade, academic, and community publications.

 

Sinéad NolanSinéad Nolan took up her post as Public Engagement and Communications Officer with the ICCL in October 2017. She previously worked with Front Line Defenders, an Irish organisation which provides protection to human rights defenders at risk. Before that, she spent a year working alongside activists at risk in northern Mexico with Peace Brigades International (PBI) and she continues to advocate for the protection of organisations, communities and defenders with PBI Ireland. Sinéad has participated, as a delegate and interpreter, in the Caravana Colombiana, an international delegation of jurists that observes the situation of human rights lawyers in Colombia. She has also worked on the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Sinéad holds an MA in International Security and Conflict Studies and has voluntary experience working in homeless services and with sex workers in Dublin.

 

 

 

Chris McCartin joined the ICCL as an Administrative Officer in September 2017 and is responsible for office operations. Chris has previously provided administrative support to key units in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Prior to joining the ICCL, he worked with University College Dublin’s University Secretariat to support a number of governance and management committees.

 

Aoife Masterson

 

Aoife Masterson joined the ICCL as Research & Policy and Administrative Assistant in January 2018. Aoife has previously worked with both the Irish and Ohio Innocence Projects providing pro bono legal and investigative services to wrongfully convicted individuals to secure their exoneration and freedom. Prior to joining the ICCL, she worked as a legal information and research assistant with FLAC and PILA. She continues to volunteer for FLAC in their Clinics and is a current board member of Cultúr Migrants Centre. Aoife undertook a B.A. in English and History and a Diploma sa Ghaeilge in NUI Galway. Following this she completed a LL.B. in Griffith College Dublin. She is currently undertaking a Postgraduate Diploma in Conflict and Dispute Resolution Studies in Trinity College Dublin and is in the final stages of an LL.M (International Justice) at Maynooth University. Her research interests focus on the arbitrary detention and mistreatment of the elderly in care settings in Ireland.