Diarmuid Rossa Phelan

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Diarmuid Rossa Phelan is a farmer, senior counsel, professor at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, fellow of Trinity College Dublin,^[1][2] and a former member of Trinity College Dublin's Board, to which he was twice elected.^[3] He was also twice elected Chairman of Trinity College Dublin's Board of Fellows.^[4]

He is a member of the Bar of England and Wales, the Bar of Northern Ireland and the New York State Bar Association.^[2]

He was made Junior Counsel in 1994 and Senior Counsel in 2008.^[2]

He was a counsel for the Department of Communications before the Moriarty Tribunal on the issuing of the second GSM licence.^[5]

He represented the companies Phone Paid Services Association Ltd, Modeva Interactive and Zamano Plc before the High Court in 2012.^[6]

He represented several high profile pro-bono actions in referendums and refugees against deportation orders, including in 2017 before the High Court where he represented a mother and two children who were being deported to Nigeria after residing in Ireland for over a decade.^[7]

In October 2008, he spoke at the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Ireland’s Future in the European Union.^[8]

He has authored many legal articles and books, including Revolt or Revolution: At the Constitutional Boundaries of the European Community (1997) and Basic Community Cases (1997), which he co-authored with the University of Oxford Professor of Comparative Law, the late Bernard Rudden .^[9]

During the debate over the amendment, he suggested that giving the Supreme Court absolute discretion to select which cases to hear was dangerous and would need to be monitored for mission creep.^[10]

On 3 August 2008, he was seriously injured when the car he was in was hit by a car driven by Catherine O'Meara.^[11] After the accident he was cut from the vehicle and taken to Nenagh Hospital.^[11] He suffered from a spinal injury and over a decade later was still being treated.^[11] A court case to determine damages was settled between him and O'Meara.^[11]

He owns mixed organic livestock farms in County Wexford and near Tallaght, County Dublin. The farms run training programs for veterinary and engineering students,^[12].^[13]

Keith Conlon was shot at Phelan's farm near Tallaght on 22 February 2022 and died in Tallaght University Hospital two days later.^[12] Phelan was charged with murder and initially denied bail.^[12] He was later granted bail on 8 April after an appeal.^[14]

On 14 October 2024 he pleaded not guilty to the murder of Keith Conlon.^[15][16] The trial began two days later in the Central Criminal Court.^[15][17]