Groundbreakers – Catherine McGuinness

https://curiousbroadcast.com/ground-breakers-catherine-mcguinness/2474/

Catherine McGuinness, born 1934, was the first women to be appointed Judge of the Circuit Court, and then went on to become Judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court.  She has a legacy of decades of public service including being member of the Council of State and President of the Law Reform Commission.  Catherine McGuinness was born in Belfast, a clergyman’s daughter. She was renowned for nuanced and critical thinking and served as the chair of  the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, part of the foundation of the Northern Ireland Peace Process.  Catherine McGuinness is one of the most influential figures in children’s rights in Ireland. Chair of  Kilkenny Incest Investigation, her Kilkenny Incest report, was the first of it is kind in Ireland, a damning report that made us acknowledge as a society that the family was not always the safest place for children and that our then legal and constitutional structures, created the hesitance of authorities to intervene to protect children.