a Minister of State position, becoming the first Minister of State for European Affairs. Some EEC business was delegated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Birmingham. He travelled to Lusaka later that year for discussions with the African National Congress. Return to opposition At the 1987 general election, Birmingham was re-elected to the Dáil despite he and constituency colleague Richard Bruton together polling only achieving 24% of the vote combined. Fine Gael lost office, and Birmingham was appointed party spokesperson for Labour by Alan Dukes in 1987 and subsequently Education in 1988. He proposed that injunctions restraining strikes should be not be held and that unofficial strikes should be banned. In March 1988, he introduced the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Bill 1988, an unsuccessful private members' bill, into the Dáil, to change the time limits for personal injuries. Birmingham lost his Dáil seat at the 1989 general election. Legal career He resumed his career as a barrister in 1989, becoming a Senior Counsel in 1999. He practised extensively in criminal law, prosecuting on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He represented injured fans in relation to the Lansdowne Road football riot. He appeared for the DPP in the trials of Michael McKevitt in the Special Criminal Court in 2003 and Linda and Charlotte Mulhall in 2006. He served as chairperson of the Censorship of Publications Appeals Board. He was appointed to chair the Advisory Group on Criminal Law and Procedure in 1996 by Minister for Justice Nora Owen. Birmingham was the sole member of the Commission of Investigation into the Dean Lyons case. He conducted a preliminary investigation for the government prior to the Ferns Report into allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns. Judicial career On 3 May 2007, it was announced that he had been selected to become a High Court judge. He became a Judge of the High Court in June 2007. In October 2014, he became one of the first appointees as Judge of the Court of Appeal on its establishment. President of Court of Appeal On 24 April 2018, the Government of Ireland nominated Birmingham to be President of the Court of Appeal. As President of the Court of Appeal, he is an ex officio member of the Supreme Court. Birmingham's nomination attracted political controversy, in light of his time as a Fine Gael TD and Minister of