Brian Cregan

Last updated

Brian Cregan
Judge of the High Court
Assumed office
3 April 2014

Brian Cregan (born 1961) [1] is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the High Court since April 2014 and is the current Chairperson of the IBRC commission of investigation.

Contents

Early career

Cregan attended Gonzaga College. [2] He attended St John's College, Oxford and the King's Inns. He became a barrister in 1990 and a senior counsel in 2004. [1] His practice focused on competition law and commercial law. [3] He has represented Seán Quinn in the High Court in disputes against Anglo Irish Bank. [4]

Judicial career

High Court

He was appointed to the High Court in April 2014. [5] Cregan presided over cases in the Commercial Court. [6] He has heard cases involving intellectual property law, [7] procurement law, [8] defamation, [9] insolvency law, [10] and consumer law. [11]

He adjudicated a dispute between Rory McIlroy and his management company Horizon Sports Management in 2015. [12] He was responsible for introducing a three strikes policy for Irish internet service provider UPC Ireland for piracy of copyrighted works by its customers. [13]

IBRC Commission

Cregan was appointed as chairperson of the IBRC commission of investigation in July 2015, replacing Daniel O'Keeffe. [14] The commission's purpose is to investigate the sale of the company Siteserv by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation to Denis O'Brien. [15] He delivered the sixth interim report of the Commission in June 2019. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that Cregan's reporting timeframe would continue to 31 March 2020. [16] As of December 2018, the commission had considered 102 statements and dealt with over 500,000 pages of documents. [17]

The final extension for the commission to complete its investigation was for June 2020. [18]

The commission published its final reportin May 2023. His role on the commission was full time, meaning that he was not available to hear cases in the High Court during this period. [19]

Other work

In 2013, Cregan published, Parnell: A Novel, a novelised account of the life of Charles Stewart Parnell, which took ten years to research. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis O'Brien</span> Irish billionaire businessman

Denis O'Brien is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for several years. His business interests have also extended to aircraft leasing, utilities support (Actavo), petroleum, football, and healthcare. As former chairman of the Esat Digifone consortium, O'Brien was questioned by the Moriarty Tribunal, which investigated the awarding of a mobile phone licence to Esat, among other things.

John Ignatius Quinn, commonly known as Seán Quinn, is an Irish businessman and conglomerateur. In 2008 he was the richest person in the Republic of Ireland, but in 2012 he was declared bankrupt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Denham</span> Irish judge (born 1945)

Susan Jane Denham, SC is a retired Irish judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 2011 to 2017, she was the first woman to hold the position. She served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1992 to 2017, and was the third longest-serving member of the court on her retirement. She also served as a Judge of the High Court from 1991 to 1992.

George Bernard Francis Clarke is an Irish barrister and judge who has served as President of the Law Reform Commission since July 2022. He previously served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 2017 to 2021. Clarke had a successful career as a barrister for many years, with a broad commercial and public law practice. He was the chair of the Bar Council of Ireland between 1993 and 1995. He was appointed to the High Court in 2004, and he became a judge of the Supreme Court in February 2012. After retiring from the bench, he returned to work as a barrister. He is also currently the President of the Irish Society for European Law.

William Martin McKechnie, SC is an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2010 and 2021 and a Judge of the High Court from 2000 to 2010.

John Eoin MacMenamin is a retired Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2012 to 2022 and a Judge of the High Court from 2004 to 2012.

The IBRC commission of investigation was an Irish government commission of investigation to look into the transactions of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) that led to its failure.

Peter Thomas Kelly is a retired Irish judge who served as President of the High Court from 2015 to 2020 and a Judge of the High Court from 2015 to 2020, and previously from 1996 to 2014, and a Judge of Court of Appeal from 2014 to 2015. He was an ex officio member of the Supreme Court of Ireland while President of the High Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Hogan</span> Irish judge, lawyer and academic

Gerard William Augustine Hogan, is an Irish judge, lawyer and academic who has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland since October 2021. He previously served as Advocate General of the European Court of Justice from 2018 to 2021, a Judge of the Court of Appeal from 2014 to 2018 and a Judge of the High Court from 2010 to 2014. Hogan first worked as a barrister and lecturer in law specialising in constitutional and administrative law.

Mary Finlay Geoghegan is a retired Irish judge and lawyer. She was appointed to the High Court in 2002 and promoted to a newly established Court of Appeal from 2014. She became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland from 2017, before retiring in 2019.

Actavo, formerly Siteserv, is an industrial and engineering services company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. It has several divisions which provide events management services, modular buildings, scaffolding, fencing, safety equipment and telecommunications networks.

Bernard Joseph Barton is a retired Irish judge who served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2021.

Deirdre Murphy is a retired Irish judge who served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2023.

Úna Ní Raifeartaigh is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since July 2024. She previously served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal from 2019 to 2024 and a Judge of the High Court from 2016 to 2019.

Seamus Noonan is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2019. He previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2014 to 2019.

Michael Twomey is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court since January 2016. He was previously a solicitor with an expertise in partnership law.

Paul Coffey is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the High Court since September 2016. He has been predominantly involved in criminal trials as a judge and formerly as a barrister. He was the chair of an examination into the Stardust fire between 2008 and 2009.

Michael MacGrath is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since July 2024. He previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2018 to 2024.

Teresa Pilkington is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since September 2020. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2018 to 2020.

Nuala Butler is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since October 2022. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2020 to 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 "Appointments to the High Court". merrionstreet.ie. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  2. "Judge Brian Cregan (Class of 1979)". Gonzaga College. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  3. "President meets new judges for High Court". Independent.ie. 4 April 2004. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  4. Carolan, Mary. "Judgment reserved on Quinn application to defend €2.3bn action". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  5. "President appoints Mr. Bernard Joseph Barton S.C." president.ie. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  6. "McIlroy case deferred until today as legal teams strive to narrow issues". www.irishexaminer.com. 4 February 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  7. "Court Finds Dunnes Stores Infringed Aldi's Trademark". Checkout. 6 April 2017. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  8. O'Faolain, Aodhan. "Losing bidder for M50 toll challenges award of contract". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  9. PM (16 September 2014). "Director defamed on Facebook, court rules". Herald.ie. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  10. Carolan, Mary. "Receivers dispute claim investor firm owed €9 million". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  11. "Dunnes' Aldi ads 'likely to deceive customers'". RTÉ News. 9 June 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  12. "Rory McIlroy settles agent fees case". BBC News. 4 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  13. "UPC ordered to install 'three strikes' anti-piracy system". Independent.ie. 27 March 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  14. "Government Appoints High Court Judge Brian Cregan to replace Judge Daniel O'Keeffe as Chair of the Commission of Investigation into certain transactions conducted by IBRC". merrionstreet.ie. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  15. Horgan-Jones, Jack. "Siteserv inquiry 'may be delayed' by legal challenge from firm linked to Denis O'Brien". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  16. "Commissions of Investigation: 26 Jun 2019: Dáil debates". www.kildarestreet.com.
  17. McGee, Harry. "TD who raised issue of Siteserv sale to Dáil criticises inquiry's progress". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  18. Horgan-Jones, Jack. "Siteserv case: Request for extension to end of year denied". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  19. Horgan-Jones, Jack (7 October 2020). "Date of new rules to set out personal injuries awards brought forward". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  20. "New book on Parnell charts incredible life". Independent.ie. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.