Dr Sinead Conneely
BA, LL.B, LL.M (Cantab), BL.
Senior Lecturer in Law
- Room name or number Room C211
- Phone +353 51 302477
- ORCID NUMBER 190241374
Biography
BA, University College Galway, 1993 with first class honours. LL.B, University College Galway, 1995 with first class honours. LL.M, University of Cambridge, 1997 with first class honours. Awarded the title of 'Scholar'. BL, King’s Inns, 2000 with first class honours. Ph.D, Trinity College, 2001. Ussher Fellowship and IRCHSS Funded research. Accredited Mediator.
Lecturing in law at Waterford Institute of Technology since 2001.
Member of the Editorial Board of Research Matters, WIT. Principle Investigator for an action research mediation pilot project with regional partners designed to devise an optimum method for delivering a cost effective family mediation service. This project developed an innovative self-funding model to support this research into the future. This project has trained mediators from Dublin Community Mediation to provide family mediation in four FRCs in Dublin in the final phase of the project.
Approved family law researcher attending family law lists in the District Court in the South-East and Dublin, with 500 cases collated and findings disseminated by conference paper and peer-reviewed publications.
Peer Reviewed Publications: Books and Book Chapters
(2019) Family Mediation in Ireland in Roberts and Moscati (ed) Family Mediation: Contemporary Issues. London, Bloomsbury. This publication has been nominated for the Inner Temple award for outstanding contribution to legal authority in Britian.
(2002) Family Mediation in Ireland. Dartmouth, Ashgate. Republished in (2011) Routledge.
(2001) “Family Mediation” in Shannon, G. (ed) Family Law Practitioner. Dublin, Gill and Macmillan.
Most Recent Articles
“Custody and Access in the District Court” [2021] 24(4) Irish Journal of Family Law 84.
“Child maintenance in the District Court” [2021] 24 (2) Irish Journal of Family Law 1.
“On such a full sea are we now afloat: Family mediation in practice in the wake of the Mediation Act 2017” [2020] Irish Journal of Family Law 73.
“Family Mediation in the District Court” [2020] Irish Journal of Family Law 42.
“Innovative family mediation research initiative in the community in Ireland” (2019) Vol 57 (3) Family Court Review 342.
“Domestic violence in the District Court” [2019] 22 (4) Irish Journal of Family Law 79.
Other Articles
“Women, equality and positive discrimination: What is the reach of Kalanke?” [1996] ILT 61.
“The Family Law (Divorce) Bill 1996: Some Observations” [1997] ILT 78.
“The Company Law Review Group report: What will we do with the small firm?” [1997] ILT 210.
“No foul, no fee”, 91 (1997) Law Society Gazette 18.
“Kalanke and Marschall decisions and positive discrimination: A review from an Irish perspective” (1998) Dli 23.
“Civil justice and legal aid in the UK: A glimpse at the future” [1998] ILT 106.
“Sentencing for committal: Protection not pride” (1998) Family Law Journal 420.
“Domestic violence and the right to asylum” (1998) Family Law Journal 761.
“Pre-nuptial agreements: Back to the future” [1999] ILT 9.
“Looking to the future: Family Mediation in the Republic of Ireland” [1999] ILT 106.
“Shah v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Somewhere to run to: Gender Persecution and Refugee Status” (1999) Child and Family Law Quarterly 321.
“Researching the Family Mediation Service: Children in Mediation” [2000] IJFL 16. This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Irish Law Teachers Association Conference, April 2000.
“Researching the Family Mediation Service: Women in Mediation” [2002] IJFL 10.
“Children’s Rights in Irish Constitutional Law” (2003) IJFL 2.
“Integrated learning on a criminal justice degree programme” in Higgs, B., Kilcommins, S., and Ryan, T Making Connections: Intentional Teaching for Integrative Learning (2010) NAIRTL.
Extensive experience as a conference co-ordinator, including: Co-Organiser of the Annual Policing Conference at WIT from 2005-2009. Co-Organiser of the International Judicial Family Law Conference in Carton House, Maynooth, (2010) Co-Organiser of the One World Family Justice Model Conference, WIT (2012) which was funded by the Irish Research Council. Organiser of the Family Law Briefing events: Updates on family law delivered to solicitors in the South East during 2014-2018.Co-Organiser of the Access to Justice Conference, Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre, April 2016. This was a joint conference with the international organisation for family court judges and other professionals who work in family law, the Association of Facilitative and Conciliation Courts (AFCC). Co-ordinator and presenter for the Family Law Briefing series of presentations for solicitors in the South East (CPD for the Law Society of Ireland).
The Mediation Pilot Project Research and the District Court Family Law Research was conducted and disseminated in conjunction with research partners, Dr Roisin O'Shea and Shane Dempsey, of Arc Mediation in Waterford with conference papers at the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts International Conference, Los Angeles, 2013; the International Conference on Shared Parenting, University of Bonn, 2013; the International Foster Care Organisation Annual Conference, Waterford Institute of Technology, 2014; The Annual Conference of the AFCC, New Orleans, 2015; the ‘Access to Justice’ Conference at Waterford Institute of Technology, 2016; AFCC Family Justice Seminar, Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre, 2016; the Association of Irish Law Teachers, Waterford, 2016; the International Conference on Shared Parenting, Boston, 2017; the AFCC Annual Conference Boston, 2017; the ‘Modern families, modern family justice’ Relate & AFCC Workshop, Windsor, 2018; the Better decisions in private family law’, Nuffield Foundation & AFCC, London, 2018; the Parental Alienation Conference, Queen’s University Belfast, 2018; Parental Alienation Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 2019; Family Mediation Conference and Panel Discussion, The Honourable Society of King’s Inns, 2019. (Forum Co-Chair).
Extensive experience as a conference co-ordinator, including: Co-Organiser of the Annual Policing Conference at WIT from 2005-2009. Co-Organiser of the International Judicial Family Law Conference in Carton House, Maynooth, (2010) Co-Organiser of the One World Family Justice Model Conference, WIT (2012) which was funded by the Irish Research Council. Organiser of the Family Law Briefing events: Updates on family law delivered to solicitors in the South East during 2014-2018.Co-Organiser of the Access to Justice Conference, Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre, April 2016. This was a joint conference with the international organisation for family court judges and other professionals who work in family law, the Association of Facilitative and Conciliation Courts (AFCC). Co-ordinator and presenter for the Family Law Briefing series of presentations for solicitors in the South East (CPD for the Law Society of Ireland).
The Mediation Pilot Project Research and the District Court Family Law Research was conducted and disseminated in conjunction with research partners, Dr Roisin O'Shea and Shane Dempsey, of Arc Mediation in Waterford with conference papers at the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts International Conference, Los Angeles, 2013; the International Conference on Shared Parenting, University of Bonn, 2013; the International Foster Care Organisation Annual Conference, Waterford Institute of Technology, 2014; The Annual Conference of the AFCC, New Orleans, 2015; the ‘Access to Justice’ Conference at Waterford Institute of Technology, 2016; AFCC Family Justice Seminar, Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre, 2016; the Association of Irish Law Teachers, Waterford, 2016; the International Conference on Shared Parenting, Boston, 2017; the AFCC Annual Conference Boston, 2017; the ‘Modern families, modern family justice’ Relate & AFCC Workshop, Windsor, 2018; the Better decisions in private family law’, Nuffield Foundation & AFCC, London, 2018; the Parental Alienation Conference, Queen’s University Belfast, 2018; Parental Alienation Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 2019; Family Mediation Conference and Panel Discussion, The Honourable Society of King’s Inns, 2019. (Forum Co-Chair).