Declan Harmon BL

Declan has a diverse civil litigation practice, with extensive experience across various areas of law, including administrative law and judicial review, commercial and company law, land and landlord-tenant law, tort and personal injury law and sports law.

Specialising in employment and equality law, Declan frequently represents both employers and employees in cases before the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court.  He also handles employment equality cases in the Circuit Court and employment-related disputes in the High Court, particularly those involving injunctive relief.  Additionally, he regularly conducts independent workplace investigations.

Declan possesses strong expertise in data protection and privacy law, representing data subjects as well as data controllers and processors in litigation under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 and providing opinions and advice on GDPR related matters.

He is also experienced in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods, particularly mediation and arbitration. He is an accredited Arbitrator and holds a Professional Diploma in Arbitration from University College Dublin.

In sports law, Declan is a member of the Disciplinary Committee and the Appeal Committee of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and part of the FAI’s pool of arbitrators. He also serves on the disciplinary pool for the Boxing Union of Ireland and the Hearings Committee of Gymnastics Ireland.

Furthermore, Declan is a member of the panel of counsel for the Diocesan Court of the Church of Ireland Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough.

Born and raised in Dublin, Declan was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the King’s Inns. Before joining the Bar of Ireland in 2017, he worked for several years in international airport operations for the overseas subsidiary of Ireland’s State-owned airports company, particularly in the Middle East.

Examples of work within the last twelve months that Declan was instructed in include:

• Acting for a member of the Defence Forces in a successful challenge to the constitutionality of certain restrictions on the rights of members of the Defence Forces to participate in public protests.
• Providing advice in relation to a large scale data breach in a corporate setting.
• Representing a large multi-national technology company in an employment equality dispute, which also involved elements of data protection law.
• Representing a number of public bodies in point of law appeals or other forms of statutory appeals from quasi-judicial bodies.
• Regularly acting for an Approved Housing Body in a variety of matters relating to land law and landlord and tenant law before the Residential Tenancies Tribunal, the District Court and the Circuit Court.
• Representing a public body in defending a defamation claim.
• Representing the directors of a management company in relation to defamatory statements made by a member.
• Appeared for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in a judicial review challenging the operation of aspects of the employment permits system.

Declan is regularly instructed for both plaintiffs and insurers on behalf of defendants in personal injury matters before the Circuit Court and the High Court.  He is particularly experienced in tort matters relating to allegations of historical sexual abuse and the evidential and Statute of Limitations issues that arise in such cases.

Declan volunteers his time as a member of the Board of Directors of Crosscare, a large charity that provides services to homeless people, young people and vulnerable members of the community across the greater Dublin region.  In addition to serving on the main Board, Declan is also Chair of Crosscare’s Governance and Risk Committee.

As an active member of his profession, Declan is involved in several legal groups.  He is a committee member of the Employment Bar Association and the British Irish Commercial Bar Association.

Declan has provided pro-bono advice and several talks on legal issues of particular interest to the LGBT+ community.  He is an active member of the OutLaw Network and is the Diversity and Inclusion Officer of the International Bar Association’s Forum for Barristers and Advocates.