The NUI Maynooth Senior Law Lecturer, Liam Herrick who was appointed Special Adviser to President Michael D. Higgins last week has strong, local family connections.
His mother Anna is one of the Walsh family from Kilmurry and, as a teenager, Liam spent a few summers working with his twin uncles, Gerard and Joe in their Walsh Bros Electrical business here in Castleisland.
“We’re all very proud of Liam’s achievements. As a young fella he used to love coming down to Kilmurry and he worked here in the shop with us for a couple of summers. We’d like to think that we gave him a good grounding and prepared him for the heights he’s now scaling. We’re delighted for him,” said his proud uncle Joe.
Born in Bishopstown in Cork, Mr. Herrick joined NUI Maynooth in November 2013, and is a human rights expert with vast experience in equality and legal reform. He was appointed Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust in 2007, and prior to this he worked as Senior Logistics & Policy Review Officer for the Irish Human Rights Commission. He has also worked at the Council of Europe in Strasburg, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the Irish Human Rights Commission.
New Post for Joe Brosnan
Another Kilmurry, Cordal man in high-powered, political circles at present is former Secretary of the Department of Justice, Joe Brosnan. Mr. Brosnan was appointed to the four-man international commission to monitor paramilitary activity in the North of Ireland which came into operation officially only a couple of weeks ago.
Mr. Brosnan, who was a participant in the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998 is joined on the commission by former CIA Deputy Director Richard Kerr and the four is made up of: former Stormont Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice and John Grieve, a former head of the London Metropolitan Police’s anti-terrorist squad – both of whom were nominated by the British government.
