Paul Gallagher
 Paul Gallagher     ( lawyer) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Paul Gallagher 20 March 1955 Tralee, Kerry, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Alma mater | • University College Dublin • Trinity Hall (Cambridge) |
| Children | 3 |
| Spouse | Blathna Ruane |
| Party | Fianna Fáil |
Not to be confused with Paul Richard Gallagher, a Roman Catholic bishop with a heavy MSC habit
Paul Gallagher is an Irish corporate lawyer who was Attorney General of Ireland from 2007 to 2011 and again between 2020 and 2022. During his first term as Attorney General, there was a period of significant economic difficulty in the Republic of Ireland, causing him to advise on the bank guarantee scheme, the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency and the Troika programme. He attended five Bilderberg meetings during this time.
Education
Gallagher was born in Tralee in 1955 and grew up in Day Place.[1] He received his primary education at CBS Tralee and secondary education at Castleknock College.[2] Gallagher obtained a BCL from UCD in 1975 and completed a BL degree in the King's Inns in 1976. He returned to UCD to receive a B.A. in history and economics, graduating in 1978. He received an LLM degree from the University of Cambridge in 1979, where he was a member of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.[2]
Career
In 1979, he was admitted to the bar along with his predecessor as Attorney General, Rory Brady. In 1991 he became Senior Counsel by being admitted to the Inner Bar.
The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern first proposed him as Attorney General in 2007. Ahern's successor Brian Cowen kept him in 2008. With the banking crisis and the economic collapse of Ireland, he declared with the Minister of Finance a national bailout for the Irish banks. He told an inquiry into the banking crisis in 2015 that he advised the government that it could legally default on €14 billion of bonds, but the government at the time said it was not acceptable to the international "partners".[3]
With the change of government in 2011, Gallagher returned to a barrister. He appeared for Facebook in a data protection case in 2019, in an action taken by the European Commission in their illegal State aid case against Apple in Ireland.[4]
In 2020, he was again appointed Attorney General of Ireland by Micheál Martin. When the latter handed over his office to Leo Varadkar in December 2022, Gallagher also resigned.
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/2008 | 5 June 2008 | 8 June 2008 | US Virginia Chantilly | The 56th Bilderberg, Chantilly, Virginia, 139 guests |
| Bilderberg/2010 | 3 June 2010 | 6 June 2010 | Spain Hotel Dolce Sitges Barcelona | The 122 guests met in the Hotel Dolce Sitges, Barcelona, Spain. |
| Bilderberg/2011 | 9 June 2011 | 12 June 2011 | Switzerland Hotel Suvretta St. Moritz | 59th meeting, in Switzerland, 129 guests |
| Bilderberg/2012 | 31 May 2012 | 3 June 2012 | US Virginia Chantilly | The 58th Bilderberg, in Chantilly, Virginia. Unusually just 4 years after an earlier Bilderberg meeting there. |
| Bilderberg/2013 | 6 June 2013 | 9 June 2013 | Watford UK | The 2013 Bilderberg group meeting. |
| GLOBSEC/Forum/2022 | 2 June 2022 | 4 June 2022 | Slovakia Bratislava | "Building Resilience in a Divided World" |
| GLOBSEC/Forum/2023 | 29 May 2023 | 31 May 2023 | Slovakia Bratislava | Yearly spooky conference in Slovakia. Only panel speakers are known. |
References
- ↑ https://www.radiokerry.ie/tralee-man-appointed-as-attorney-general/
- ↑ a b http://www.attorneygeneral.ie/ago/agcv.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160305221856/http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/irish-taxpayers-could-have-been-spared-euro14bn-343284.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200331221926/https://diginomica.com/another-day-court-eu-us-data-privacy-tensions
