The Government yesterday announced the appointment of Mr James Hamilton as the next Director of Public Prosecutions, to replace Mr Eamonn Barnes who retires next week. Mr Hamilton (50) has been director general of the Office of the Attorney General since 1995 and has worked in the Attorney General's office since 1981.
He first came to public attention when he was called to give evidence to the special Dail committee which dealt with the fall of the Fianna Fail/Labour government in 1994. Mr Hamilton replaced Mr Matt Russell, known to the inquiry as "Official A", as senior legal assistant in the Attorney General's office when Mr Russell took an early retirement package after the collapse of the coalition in 1994.
Mr Russell retired after it emerged that there had been a six-month delay in replying to correspondence relating to a compensation claim by victims of the paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth. It was Mr Hamilton who found the Duggan file which directly led to Mr Dick Spring leaving government.
Mr Hamilton told the inquiry in 1995 that changes had been implemented in the AG's office since the Smyth affair for greater communication between staff.
From Fairview, Dublin, Mr Hamilton was educated at the Hibernian Marine School and the High School in Dublin. He graduated from Trinity College in history and political science and studied law in the King's Inns. He was called to the Bar in 1973 and practised from 1973 until 1981.
Since 1998, he has been the Irish member of the Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission). He has served on the Advisory Committee on Fraud, the Constitutional Review Group and the Public Prosecution Study Group.