Alumni Achievement Award for Judge Helen Boyle
Mitchelstown and Church Street native Judge Helen Boyle has been honoured with an Alumni Achievement Award from UCC last Friday.
An accomplished lawyer and Circuit Court judge, Judge Helen Boyle graduated with a BCL and LLB from UCC’s School of Law in 1992 and 1993 respectively. Judge Boyle practised as a barrister at the Cork Bar prior to her appointment as a judge. Since her appointment to the Circuit Court in 2020, she has made a significant impact in her field.
Speaking on receipt of the award, Judge Boyle said she was very grateful for the award and for the opportunities afforded to her in the university.
“I am very grateful to UCC for this award. I loved my time in UCC and appreciate the opportunities I was given there. I had the chance to learn law in a friendly and inspiring faculty. I had the opportunity to join clubs and societies, to learn how to debate and be sent to intervarsities to compete on behalf of the university. I made lifelong friends there and learned that it is important to participate as fully as one can in college life. I realise that it was a privilege to study in UCC and I brought what I had learned with me as I progressed through life and work”.
Judge Boyle served as chairperson of the Mental Health and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunals. She has also acted as junior counsel to a number of inquiries and commissions of investigation, including the Commission of Investigations to the Leas Cross Nursing Home, Dean Lyons Case and the Preliminary Investigation into Certain Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Ferns.
Her contribution to the cultural and commercial life of Cork City is also worthy of mention; she is former Chair of Cork International Film Festival and former director of the Port of Cork.
She was joined at the awards on Friday by fellow recipients Professor Des Crowley, doctor and inclusion health leader and Sean Minihane, founder of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement. Other alumni honoured were award-winning poet and author Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Professor Martin Tangney OBE, biofuel pioneer. The Alumni Achievement awards dinner is an annual celebration by UCC of its alumni, previous winners include RTÉ broadcaster Marty Morrissey, psychologist Maureen Gaffney and Michelin starred chef Ross Lewis.