Dr Charles O’Mahony, lecturer in the School of Law NUI Galway, has been elected as President of the Irish Association of Law Teachers (IALT). The IALT was established in 1979 with the objective of advancing legal education, legal research and the work and interests of law teachers on the island of Ireland. The Association is managed by a council and is comprised of members representing law lecturers in Irish universities and institutes of technology on the island of Ireland.

A native of County Kerry, Dr O’Mahony joined NUI Galway’s School of Law in 2012 as a lecturer in Public Law where he teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses including Constitutional Law, Comparative Disability Law and Minors, Minority Groups and the Criminal Justice System. He completed his PhD in 2013 on‘Diversion: A Comparative Study of Law and Policy Relating to Defendants and Offenders with Mental Health Problems and Intellectual Disability’.

Dr O’Mahony previously worked for Amnesty International Ireland as legal officer on its mental health campaign and as a legal researcher for the Law Reform Commission of Ireland. He is Co-programme Director of NUI Galway’s LLM in Public Law.

The IALT runs a large conference annually, which attracts legal academics from all over Ireland and abroad. The IALT award a Book Prize named in memory of the late Professor Kevin Boyle who pioneered the teaching of human rights law in Ireland while Professor of Law at NUI Galway. Kevin Boyle an academic and human rights advocate of international repute was instrumental in the establishment of the IALT in 1979 and was elected President in 1985-1986. The IALT also offer a Teaching Innovation Fund for outstanding scholars and teachers in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Honorary members and patrons of the IALT include Mary McAleese and Mr Justice Bryan McMahon.

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