| Honorific Prefix: | The Hon. Ms. Justice |
| Isobel Kennedy | |
| Office: | Judge of the Court of Appeal |
| Term Start: | 13 November 2018 |
| Nominator: | Government of Ireland |
| Appointer: | Michael D. Higgins |
| Office1: | Judge of the High Court |
| Term Start1: | 10 February 2015 |
| Term End1: | 13 November 2018 |
| Nominator1: | Government of Ireland |
| Appointer1: | Michael D. Higgins |
| Office2: | Chair of the Referendum Commission |
| Term Start2: | 29 March 2018 |
| Term End2: | 11 November 2018 |
| Appointer2: | Eoghan Murphy |
| Birth Place: | Limerick, Ireland |
| Nationality: | Irish |
Isobel Kennedy is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2018. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2015 to 2018 and Chairperson of the Referendum Commission from March 2018 to November 2018.
Kennedy is from Limerick.[1] She obtained a BCL degree in 1986 from University College Cork and began practising as a barrister in 1988. She specialised in criminal and constitutional law. She served on the Barristers' Professional Conduct Tribunal of the Bar of Ireland and was a member of the Bar Council between 1995 and 1997. She became a senior counsel in 2003. Kennedy acted as a barrister for the Investigation Committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.[2]
She became a High Court judge in February 2015.[3] She was nominated following a selection process by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board.[4] She acted as Judge on the Special Criminal Court until 2018.[5]
Kennedy twice served as chairperson to the Referendum Commission, serving for the referendum to allow the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion and the referendum to remove blasphemy from the Constitution.[6] [7] The referendum on abortion had the highest voter turnout in a referendum since the establishment of the commission. Kennedy recommended in a report to the Oireachtas that the Commission be replaced with "a permanent Electoral Commission".[8]
She became a Judge of the Court of Appeal in November 2018.[9] Kennedy's appointment to the Court of Appeal at the same time as Caroline Costello led to the first Irish court with a gender-balanced number of judges.[10]
She currently serves on the Advisory Committee to the School of Law at the University of Limerick.[11]