Biography

Dr Luke Noonan, LLB (Hons) (2009), LLM (2019), PGCert TLHE (2024), PhD (2024)  is a graduate of Griffith College Cork and University College Cork. His doctoral research was funded by the Irish Research Council and supervised by Dr Catherine O’Sullivan and Dr Darius Whelan. He joined the School of Law, University College Cork as a Lecturer in Law in September 2023, and was previously Assistant Professor in Criminal Law at Dublin City University.

He became the Deputy Director of the Centre of Criminal Justice and Human Rights in 2024, and has been the Co-Director of the Irish Legal Information Initiative since 2020.

Research Interests

Luke's doctoral research was titled "Reforming Mental Condition Defences and Procedures in the Criminal Justice System in light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities".

His research interests lie primarily in the areas of criminal law, criminal justice, law of evidence, human rights and mental health law. 

Research Grants

  Project Funding
Body 		Start Date End Date Award
Reforming Mental Condition Defences and Procedures in the Criminal Justice System in light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Irish Research Council 01-SEP-19 31-AUG-22 €77,833.20

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2024) 'Is Insanity a ‘Denial of Proof’ Defence in Irish Law?'
Luke Noonan (2024) 'Is Insanity a ‘Denial of Proof’ Defence in Irish Law?'. Dublin University Law Journal, 44 (2) [Details]
(2024) 'Mental Capacity, Dignity and the Power of International Human Rights (Book Review)'
Luke Noonan (2024) 'Mental Capacity, Dignity and the Power of International Human Rights (Book Review)'. Human Rights Law Review, 25 (1) [DOI] [Details]
(2020) 'Prior Fault Insanity and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities'
Luke Noonan (2020) 'Prior Fault Insanity and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities'. Irish Criminal Law Journal, 30 (1) [Details]
(2020) 'The Role of the Jury in the Insanity Defence: People (DPP) v Alchimionek'
Luke Noonan (2020) 'The Role of the Jury in the Insanity Defence: People (DPP) v Alchimionek'. Hibernian Law Journal, 19 (1) [Details]
(2020) 'The Insanity Defence in Ireland: An analysis of the defence in homicide trials'
Luke Noonan (2020) 'The Insanity Defence in Ireland: An analysis of the defence in homicide trials'. Irish Jurist, 64 [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
2019 Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Scholar Irish Research Council
2019 Comyn Kelleher Tobin Graduate Bursary College of Business and Law

Professional Associations

  Association Function From / To
Centre for Criminal Justice & Human Rights Deputy Director 13-FEB-24 /
Irish Legal Information Initiative Co-Director 01-JUN-20 /
Irish Association of Law Teachers Member 01-JUL-21 /
Irish Penal Reform Trust Member 01-JUL-21 /
Society of Legal Scholars Member 01-MAR-21 /
Irish Legal Information Initiative Project Coordinator 01-DEC-18 / 31-MAY-20

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2023) European Research Council Roots of Responsibility,
L. Noonan (2023) Protecting Legal Capacity: Replacing the Insanity Defence with Non-Discriminatory Doctrines of Culpability. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], European Research Council Roots of Responsibility, University College London . [Details]
(2022) Mental Diversity Law Network,
L. Noonan (2022) From an assessment of moral responsibility to a doctrine of culpability: Changing the nature of the insanity defence to comply with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], Mental Diversity Law Network, University of Nottingham . [Details]
(2022) XXXVIIth International Congress on Law and Mental Health,
L. Noonan (2022) Reforming the Insanity Defence to Comply with Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], XXXVIIth International Congress on Law and Mental Health, University of Lyon . [Details]
(2022) All-Ireland PhD Conference,
L. Noonan (2022) Absence of Choice: Reforming the Insanity Defence. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], All-Ireland PhD Conference, University of Galway . [Details]
(2021) Annual Conference of the Irish Association of Law Teachers,
L. Noonan (2021) Reforming the law of Infanticide in light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], Annual Conference of the Irish Association of Law Teachers, Irish Association of Law Teachers . [Details]
(2021) Annual Conference of the Irish Association of Law Teachers,
L. Noonan & P. O'Callaghan (2021) The Irish Legal Information Initiative: Cultivating Key Graduate Attributes Beyond the Classroom. [Invited Lectures (Conference)], Annual Conference of the Irish Association of Law Teachers, Irish Association of Law Teachers . [Details]

Committees

  Committee Function From / To
Athena Swan Self Assessment Team Member 2024 /
School of Law EDI Member 2023 /
Centre for Criminal Justice & Human Rights Board Member 2023 /

Employment

  Employer Position From / To
University College Cork Lecturer in Law 25-SEP-23 /
Dublin City University Assistant Professor in Criminal Law 01-JAN-23 / 31-AUG-23
University College Cork Assistant Lecturer 01-SEP-19 / 24-SEP-23

Education

  Year Institution Qualification Subject
2024 University College Cork Ph.D Law
2024 University College Cork PG Cert Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
2019 University College Cork LL.M. Law
2009 Griffith College Cork LL.B. (Hons.) in Irish Law Law

Languages

  Language Reading Writing Speaking
English

Teaching Interests