The Government is expected to announce the nomination of Supreme Court judge Donal O’Donnell to be the next chief justice.
The position is the State's highest judicial post.
Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys brought Mr Justice O’Donnell’s name to today’s Cabinet meeting following consultations witht the three coalition party leaders and Attorney General Paul Gallagher, ministers approved the nomination according to The Irish Times.
He will succeed the current Chief Justice Frank Clarke in the autumn when Mr Justice Clarke reaches retirement age.
Many laywes consider Mr Justice O'Donnell to be the “dominant intellectual force” on the current Supreme Court, and he was seen as the favourite to be the next chief justice.
Mr Justice O'Donnell has been a Supreme Court judge since 2010, he was one of the few practising barristers to be directly appointed from the bar to the highest court in the State.
His father was a judge of the Court of Appeal in the North.
He was raised in Belfast, but he attended university at UCD and has always practised in Dublin.
