Mr Justice Seán Ryan has been appointed as president of the new Court of Appeal, which was established after a referendum in October 2013.
Mr Ryan was educated at UCD and King's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1972.
He practised as a barrister on the south eastern circuit, and was appointed as chair of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) in 2003.
Following on from that, Mr Ryan was then made a High Court judge, and also appointed chair of an expert group to examine options for the implementation on the European Court of Human Rights judgement in A, B and C v Ireland: 2011.
The new appeals court is set to almost halve the backlog of cases currently before the Supreme Court.
Newly appointed President of the Court of Appeal the Hon Mr. Justice Sean Ryan poses with his wife, Mrs Ruth Ryan, having made his declaration before the Supreme Court this morning | Image: Francesca Comyn
It will essentially hear any High Court appeal that has not been heard in full or in part by the Supreme Court - unless the case is to take priority or a hearing date has been set.
The Chief Justice Susan Denham has previously described the new court as the most important change in the structure of the courts since Independence.
The new court will deal with around 250 out of approximately 600 appeals that are currently waiting to be heard by the Supreme Court.
Nine judges were appointed to the historic court by President Michael D Higgins yesterday.
The ten judges of the Supreme Court and High Court President Nicholas Kearns filed into court in front of the media yesterday evening, for what was partly a photo opportunity, to mark the establishment of the historic Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court judges (as seen left to right in the video below) are:
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne
Mr Justice John McMenamin
Mr Justice Liam McKechnie
Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman
High Court President Nicholas Kearns
Chief Justice Susan Denham
Mr Justice John L Murray
Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell
Mr Justice Frank Clarke
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy
Mr Justice Peter Charlton
