Larkin steps down as Attorney General
THE Stormont Executive’s chief legal adviser is to leave his post at the end of the month, it has been confirmed.
John Larkin has served as Northern Ireland Attorney General for the past decade. His term comes to an end on June 30.
First and Deputy First Ministers Arlene Foster and Michelle O’neill thanked him for his work.
“On behalf of the Executive, we would like to thank Mr Larkin for his tireless and invaluable work over the past decade,” they said in a statement.
“The Executive Office will initiate a selection process to help identify and appoint Mr Larkin’s successor. This process will be based on the principles that apply to public appointments and will be an open competition.”
Mr Larkin, who studied at Queen’s University Belfast, was first called to the Bar in 1986.
He took Silk in 2001 and went on to specialise in constitutional and administrative law and human rights.
In May 2010 he was appointed Attorney General, becoming the first person to hold the office separately since its functions were given to the Attorney General for England and Wales in 1972 after Stormont was prorogued.
Earlier this year he was appointed as a temporary High Court judge to ease pressures on the judiciary and cover vacancies. It was the first time that a law officer had been called to the bench here.
A range of options for interim arrangements to fill the position of Attorney General are currently being considered, the Executive office confirmed.