George Martin Birmingham (born 3 August 1954) is an Irish judge who has served as President of the Court of Appeal since April 2018 and a Judge of the Court of Appeal since October 2014. He previously served as a judge of the High Court from 2007 to 2014. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-Central constituency from 1981 to 1989 and as a Minister of State from 1982 to 1987. Early life Birmingham was born in Dublin in 1954. He was educated at St. Paul's College, Trinity College Dublin and King's Inns, where he qualified as a barrister. He was called to the bar in November 1976. His early legal career involved representing clients in commercial, criminal, and labour law matters. Political career First elections Birmingham was elected to the national executive of Fine Gael in December 1976. He proposed a successful motion at the 1978 Fine Gael Ardfheis for the party to seek a referendum on divorce. He was first elected to office in 1979, topping the poll in his ward to become a Fine Gael member of Dublin Corporation for Raheny. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1981 general election as a Fine Gael TD for the Dublin North-Central constituency. He was competing against Charles Haughey, Vincent Brady and Noël Browne. He was the Fine Gael spokesperson for urban affairs in 1982. Minister of State Between 1982 and 1987, he served as a Minister of State under Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. In December 1982 he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Labour with responsibility for youth affairs, with additional duties as Minister of State at the Department of Education with responsibility for Co-ordination of Education and Training from December 1983. In 1983, in the Dáil, he defended the wording of the then proposed Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland on behalf of the government, specifically to ensure that the Supreme Court of Ireland could not discover an unenumerated right to abortion. In February 1986, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs and Development Co-operation. He was succeeded as Minister of State for Youth Affairs by Enda Kenny. The government had considered creating a cabinet-level rank of Minister for European Affairs for Gemma Hussey to coordinate EEC affairs, but instead opted to appoint Birmingham to