Miriam Delahunt BL

Miriam has  combined her practice with academic research, particularly from 2008 to 2016, when she completed a Masters and a PhD in the Law School in Trinity College Dublin. She was conferred with an LLM (the title of the dissertation was Intermediaries in Criminal Proceedings) in 2009 in Trinity College Dublin. She was subsequently conferred with a PhD from the School of Law in Trinity College Dublin in June 2016. The topic of her thesis was ‘Support Measures for Child Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings in Ireland.’ Having written a number of articles in the area, she has now extended her research to include vulnerable victims, witnesses and defendants and hopes to publish a practitioner’s handbook in these areas by the end of 2021.

Miriam has lectured in the Law School, Trinity College Dublin from 2015 to 2019. She tutors on The Honorable Society of King’s Inns in the subject of Advanced Advocacy.

While she has been led in Court of Appeal murder and rape appeals, Miriam has also appeared unled in Circuit Court trials in addition to numerous High Court bail applications. Most significantly, she appeared in the Court of Appeal case of DPP v SA (214/18) in which judgment was given in March 2020.  The appeal involved a number of challenges on the basis of the admission of recordings under s. 16(1)(b) Criminal Evidence Act 1992, particularly in respect of procedural issues.

• Jan 2024      ‘Vulnerable Witnesses and Defendants in Criminal Proceedings’ (Clarus Press, 2024)
• Feb 2021        The Bar Review – “Closing Argument – Vulnerable Witnesses”
• June 2020     The Irish Jurist     Book Review of ‘Vulnerable Witnesses within Family and Criminal Proceedings: Protections, Safeguards and Sanctions.’ (Frank Feehan and Caroline Harris (Bloomsbury Prof., London, 2019)
• Feb 2020       The Bar Review- ‘The Trial of Children in the Central Criminal Courts’
• June 2018      The Bar Review– ‘Delay and Disclosure – Disaster?’’
• Co-authored with Mary Rose Gearty SC now Judge of the High Court
• Feb 2017          The Bar Review – ‘Prosecutorial Challenges – Vulnerable Witnesses’ –
• Co-authored with Caroline Biggs SC
• June 2015       The Bar Review – ‘Recorded Testimony for Vulnerable Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings’
• 2015                 Irish Journal of Legal Studies – ‘Issues in Respect of Support Measures for Witnesses with an Intellectual Disability in the Irish Criminal Justice System’ Vol.5, Issue 1, Art.5
• Feb 2011         The Bar Review – ‘Video Evidence and s. 16(1)(b) Criminal Evidence Act 1992’
• 7th Dec 2010  The Irish Times – ‘Improved measures needed for Vulnerable Witnesses in Court’

• 19^th July 2019         Developments in relation to Vulnerable Witnesses
• Circuit Court Judges Conferences, Adare, Co. Limerick
• 23rd March 2019    The Implementation of the EU Victims’ Directive in Ireland,
• Criminal Law Forum, Trinity College Dublin
• 25th May 2016      S.16 (1)(b) Criminal Evidence Act 1992
• Specialist Interviewer Conference, Garda College, Templemore, Co. Tipperary
• 27th March 2015   Support Measures for Vulnerable Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings,  Irish Postgraduate Criminology Conference, DIT/Trinity College Dublin
• 7th Feb 2015         Recent Developments in Support Measures for Vulnerable Witnesses,
• Law School Colloquium, Trinity College Dublin
• 4th May 2012 –     Support Measures for Witnesses with Intellectual Disabilities,
• Creating Equitable Access to Justice: Recognising People with Disabilities as Victims of Crime Conference, Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (Faculty of Law), and School of Applied Social Studies, UCC, Cork.
• 4th March 2012    Support Measures for Child Witnesses
• Children and the Criminal Law Conference – Irish Criminal Bar Association Conference, Kings Inns, Dublin
• 20th July 2011      Children and the Law – Dublin Circuit CPD, The Bar Council
• 6th July 2011       S.16 (1)(b) Criminal Evidence Act 1992
• Garda College Conference, Templemore, Co. Tipperary
• 28th April 2011     Recent Developments in Pre-Trial Witness Statements
• UCC Postgraduate Conference, Cork
• 8th March 2011    Support Measures for Vulnerable Witnesses
• South Eastern Circuit CPD, Bar Council
• 26th Feb 2011       Pre-Trial Depositions for Vulnerable Witnesses, Brehon Law School

Miriam speaks French at DELF B1 level