Who is the Irish lawyer representing at the ICJ? All about Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh

The Irish lawyer who is advising South Africa’s legal team in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel has received praise for her argument.

South Africa accuses Israel of breaching the UN genocide convention in its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza since October 7.

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh told the ICJ that this was “the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something.”

She added: “Entire multi-generational families will be obliterated and yet more Palestinian children will become ‘WCNSF’ – Wounded Child No Surviving Family: The terrible new acronym born out of Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian population in Gaza.”

Speaking to Irish Legal News in 2022, Ms Ní Ghrálaigh said she was brought up by her mother, together with her older sister.

The family ultimately settled in London, where she would spend time at the Old Bailey as a teen.

They took regular extended trips back to Ireland.

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC speaking at the ICJ hearing against Israel at the Hague. Picture: Palestine_UN Twitter/X

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC speaking at the ICJ hearing against Israel at the Hague. Picture: Palestine_UN Twitter/X

She was called to the bar in Ireland in 2017, having initially been called in England and Wales in 2005 and in Northern Ireland in 2013.

Ms Ní Ghrálaigh represents Matrix Law and is described in legal directories as a “fiercely intelligent barrister” and “compelling” and “persuasive” advocate, who is “tactically brilliant”, “quick to spot winning points in a case”, and “utterly committed” to her clients.

She has been recommended in eight areas by the domestic directories in England and Wales:

• public international law; 
• international human rights law; 
• civil liberties and human rights; 
• protest law; 
• administrative and public law; 
• criminal law; 
• international criminal law; and 
• inquests and inquiries

She has previously represented Croatia in the ICJ in a case alleging genocide by Serbia and has also done work in the Bloody Sunday inquiry, spending a year as a legal advisor representing many families of the dead and wounded.

In the past, she has credited the shooting of Majelle O’Hare in 1976 as a key case that had an impact on her growing up.

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC speaking at the ICJ Picture: Palestine_UN Twitter/X

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC speaking at the ICJ Picture: Palestine_UN Twitter/X

“I was 12 years old myself when I found a pamphlet about Majella O’Hare in one of my mother’s bookcases,” she explained.

“I saw the picture of the young girl on the front, and saw her age, and I read it from cover to cover.

“I read about how she died in the arms of her father after he heard the shot and went running to her. I think it was her age, the fact that nobody had been held accountable, and the circumstances of the killing – that she had been shot as she walked along a country road with a group of other children.”

She is described in a 2024 legal journal as “super-knowledgeable on protest law. She is unrivalled in knowledge and strategy,. Blinne is absolutely incredible. So smart, intelligent and personable.”

Ms Ní Ghrálaigh graduated from Queens’ College, Cambridge, with first class honours in modern and medieval languages, and received a distinction on the Graduate Diploma in Law.

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