MR JUSTICE Frank Clarke of the High Court has been appointed as one of the members of the supervisory board of the Irish Innocence Project at Griffith College, subject to there being no conflict of interest.
The Irish Innocence Project is modelled on the US project of the same name, co-founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld.
The project uses DNA evidence to examine cases where there are claims of wrongful conviction.
Since its foundation, 251 people have been exonerated in the US, 17 of whom had served time on death row.
The Irish Innocence Project involves final-year law students from Griffith College and Trinity College working with a team of professional lawyers to examine cases of alleged wrongful conviction.
Currently there are 12 students, including four from Trinity College, working on up to 20 cases.
The project has been granted special permission from the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice for all case-workers to undertake prison visits.
The other members of the supervisory board of the Irish Innocence Project are James McGuill, former president of the Law Society; Frank Crummey, founder of the Institute of Legal Executives; David Langwallner, dean of the law faculty at Griffith College; Ronan Fenelon, director of Griffith College; David Prendergast of Trinity College Dublin; and retired case workers Pádraig Murray and Deirdre Kiernan.