Comhrá with Hartstown Community School

On Monday 27 April, the Supreme Court hosted a 'comhrá' with students of Hartstown Community School in Dublin 15.  The students of Mr Melia's Politics & Society class spent an hour asking questions to Mr Justice Gerard Hogan of the Supreme Court and Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan of the High Court.  

Comhrá (the word for ‘conversation’ in Irish) is an education initiative of the Supreme Court that enables secondary school students to participate in live question-and-answer sessions with judges of the Supreme Court from anywhere in Ireland by video call.  The programme provides students with an opportunity to ask judges questions about their work, the role of the Supreme Court and of the courts system more generally within our democracy, allowing them to gain an insight and understanding of the function of the Supreme Court and promote an interest in law.

The students from Hartstown C.S. asked some considered and thoughtful questions which covered a broad range of topics from the Judges' family and educational backgrounds, and career paths, to what inspired them to study law and their advice for future lawyers.  The Judges also answered some more challenging questions, such as how they think the 1937 Constitution might be different were it to be drafted today, and how Judges navigate the interpretation of laws passed by the Oireachtas.