Donnell Deeny

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Donnell Deeny
High Sheriff of Belfast
In office
January 1983 –January 1984

Born in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, Deeny was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Trinity College Dublin, [2] and Queen's University, Belfast. [2] During his time in Trinity College he acted as Auditor of the College Historical Society, the oldest undergraduate debating society in the world. Deeny won the Irish Times University Debating Trophy three times, the only person ever to do so.[ citation needed ]

Career

Deeny was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1974 and took silk in March 1989. [3] He was also called to the Bar of Ireland (Senior Counsel 1996), and to the Bar of England and Wales (as a bencher in the Middle Temple). [4] Deeny was appointed a High Court judge on 6 September 2004, [2] and was knighted some months afterwards. [5] He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in September 2017 [6] and a Privy Councillor in October 2017. [7]

He was appointed in 2000 to the British Government's Spoliation Advisory Panel, which advises on claims relating to cultural objects lost during the Nazi era. He served two further terms before becoming chairman of the Panel in 2012. [8] [9]

Deeny had served as an Alliance Party Councillor on Belfast City Council in 1981–85, and was High Sheriff of Belfast in 1983, the first Catholic to hold office in the City since the Partition of Ireland. [4]

Deeny was a member of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 1991–94, and its chairman 1994–98. [10] He was President of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 2006 to 2017; and president of the Irish Legal History Society in 2015- 2018; and the founding chairman, Ireland Chair of Poetry Trust in 1997–2008. [4] He is a Deputy Lieutenant for the City of Belfast and an Honorary Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

He was elected as the 56th Pro-Chancellor of the University of Dublin in 2014. [11]

References

  1. ↑ "Birthdays today". The Telegraph. 25 April 2012. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2014. Mr Justice Deeny, 62
  2. 1 2 3 "Speaker Introduction: Doctor in Laws, Sir Donnel Justin Patrick Deeny" (PDF). University of Dublin, Summer Assembly. 13 June 2025. p. vii. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  3. ↑ Biography in SLS course prospectus
  4. 1 2 3 "The Hon Mr Justice Deeny's Biography". Biographies. Debretts.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013.
  5. ↑ "Knighthood Conferred". The National Archives. 20 December 2004. Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. The Queen has been pleased to approve that the honour of Knighthood be conferred upon Donnell Justin Patrick Deeny, Esq, QC on his appointment as a Justice of the High Court in Northern Ireland.
  6. ↑ "No. 7981". The Belfast Gazette . 15 September 2017. p. 666.
  7. ↑ "Orders Approved at the Privy Council for 11 October 2017" (PDF). Privy Council Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "David Lammy announces reappointment of six members of Spoliation Panel (Media Release 049/07)". Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, UK.gov. 13 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 June 2008.
  9. ↑ LootedArt.com description of Spoliation Advisory Panel
  10. ↑ "New Chairman for Arts Council". Northern Ireland Information Service. 5 August 1998. Archived from the original on 21 December 2003.
  11. ↑ "The Honorable Sir Donnell Deeny". The Chancellor. Trinity College Dublin. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022.
Civic offices
Preceded by High Sheriff of Belfast
1983		Succeeded by
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