Dr. Tom Hickey is Associate Professor in the School of Law and Government at DCU. He specialises in constitutional law and theory, and has published in the leading journals in those fields, including in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, Public Law and Legal Studies.
Along with Prof Oran Doyle, Tom has co-authored one of the authoritative texts in Irish constitutional law, Constitutional Law: Texts, Cases & Materials (Clarus, 2019). He is the co-editor of Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution (MUP, 2017), and co-author (with Dr. Eoin Daly) of The Political Theory of the Irish Constitution: Republicanism and the Basic Law (MUP, 2015).
Dr. Hickey has given papers at academic conferences and universities all over the world, and in 2022, was invited to deliver the keynote to the assembled judges of the Irish superior courts at the Superior Courts Conference in the King's Inns, Dublin. Dr. Hickey has been consulted by government, parliamentary committees and media on matters relating to his research. His scholarly work is regularly cited by the Irish Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. He was appointed as the constitutional law expert to the Expert Advisory Panel to the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality in 2019, serving until the Assembly completed its work in 2021.
Dr. Hickey was appointed as a Visiting Teaching Professor at Université Montesquieu, Bordeaux IV in 2015. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford in 2020, and a visiting scholar at the University of Glasgow (2012) and at Princeton University (2009). He won the DCU President’s Prize for Teaching Excellence in 2015, and was nominated again in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Dr. Hickey holds degrees from NUI Galway and Cambridge University. His scholarly papers can be accessed here, here and here.
Book
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Oran Doyle and Tom Hickey (2019) Constitutional Law: Texts, Cases and Materials. Dublin: Clarus Press. | |
| 2017 | Laura Cahillane, James Gallen, Tom Hickey (2017) Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution. Manchester: Manchester University Press. [Link] | |
| 2015 | Eoin Daly and Tom Hickey (2015) The Political Theory of the Irish Constitution: Republicanism and the Basic Law. : Manchester University Press. |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Tom Hickey (2019) 'Judges and the political organs of State' In: The Oxford Handbook of Irish Politics. Oxford : Oxford University Press. | |
| 2019 | Oran Doyle and Tom Hickey (2019) 'Judicial Cosmopolitanism: The Use of Foreign Law in Contemporary Constitutional Systems' In: Judicial Cosmopolitanism: The Use of Foreign Law in Contemporary Constitutional Systems. London : Brill Publishers. | |
| 2018 | Tom Hickey and Eoin Daly (2018) 'The Constitution and judicial power: theoretical perspectives' In: Judicial Power in Ireland. Dublin : Institute of Public Administration. | |
| 2017 | Tom Hickey (2017) 'Judges, democracy, and the idea of 'principle' in constitutional adjudication' In: Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution. Manchester : Manchester University Press. [Link] | |
| 2013 | Tom Hickey (2013) 'Our Constitution and Our Politics: Why Political Culture Matters and Constitutional Text Does Not!' In: Theo Dorgan(Eds.). Foundation Stone: Notes Towards a Constitution for a 21st Century Republic. Dublin : New Island Books. | |
| 2012 | Tom Hickey (2012) 'Civic Virtue, Autonomy and Religious Schools: What Would Machiavelli Do?' In: Fintan O'Toole(Eds.). Up the Republic! Towards a New Ireland. London : Faber & Faber. |
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Tom Hickey (2022) 'Legitimacy - not justice - and the case for judicial review'. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 42 (3). [Link] https://academic.oup.com/ojls/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ojls/gqac009/6591511 | |
| 2022 | Tom Hickey (2022) 'Reading TD Down'. Judicial Studies Institute Journal, (03). [Link] | |
| 2021 | Hickey, T. (2021) 'Interpreting natural rights: Gorry and ‘the family’ under Article 41'. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 43 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2020 | Tom Hickey (2020) 'Justiciability and proceedings in the Oireachtas: the case of Angela Kerins'. Public Law, . | |
| 2020 | Hickey, T. (2020) 'Hercules as a feminist judge? Revisiting Rackley's 'Little Mermaid' in the wake of the feminist judgments projects'. Legal Studies, 40 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2019 | Tom Hickey (2019) 'The republican core of the case for judicial review'. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 17 (1). [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2019 | Tom Hickey (2019) 'The republican core of the case for judicial review: a rejoinder to Richard Bellamy'. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 17 (1). [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Tom Hickey (2018) 'Popular sovereignty in Irish constitutional law'. Dublin University Law Journal, . | |
| 2016 | Tom Hickey (2016) 'The Republican Virtues of the 'New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism''. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2016 (14 (4)):794-816. | |
| 2015 | Tom Hickey (2015) 'Revisiting Ryan v Lennon to make the case against judicial supremacy (and for a new model of constitutionalism in Ireland)'. Irish Jurist, 53 :125-153. | |
| 2011 | Tom Hickey and Eoin Daly (2011) 'Religious Freedom and the Right to Discriminate in the School Admissions Context: A Neorepublican Critique'. Legal Studies, 31 :615-643. | |
| 2011 | Daly E.; Hickey T. (2011) 'Religious freedom and the 'right to discriminate' in the school admissions context: A neo-republican critique'. Legal Studies, 31 (4):615-643. [DOI] | |
| 2020 | Doyle, Oran; Hickey, Tom (2020) 'The Use of Foreign Law in Irish Constitutional Adjudication'. JUDICIAL COSMOPOLITANISM: THE USE OF FOREIGN LAW IN CONTEMPORARY CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEMS, :69-93. [DOI] | |
| 2009 | Tom Hickey (2009) 'Domination and the Hijab in Irish Schools'. Dublin University Law Journal, 31 . | |
| 2016 | Hickey, T. (2016) 'The republican virtues of the new commonwealth model of constitutionalism'. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 14 . [Link] [DOI] |
Conference Contribution
Newspaper
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Tom Hickey and Oran Doyle (2020) Oireachtas can pass laws in the public interest without Taoiseach Seanad nominees. NEWSA [Link] https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/oireachtas-can-pass-laws-in-public-interest-without-taoiseach-seanad-nominees-1.4213010 | |
| 2019 | Tom Hickey (2019) Spectre of litigation now hovers over our parliamentarians. NEWSA [Link] | |
| 2017 | Tom Hickey (2017) Direct Provision ruling signals new “dialogue” between Dail and the Judicary, Irish Times, June 24, 2017. NEWSA [Link] | |
| 2017 | Tom Hickey (2017) Angela Kerins was on the wrong side of the public good, Irish TImes, February 3, 2017. NEWSA [Link] | |
| 2012 | Tom Hickey (2012) Why the School Patronage Report is Doomed to Fail, Irish Times, April 24, 2012. NEWSA | |
| 2011 | Tom Hickey (2011) Opportunity to Reclaim Idea of Republic, Irish Times, October 13, 2011. NEWSA | |
| 2011 | Tom Hickey (2011) Common Schools Best in Transmitting Civic Values, Irish Times, June 24, 2011. NEWSA |
Research Interests
Tom works in the areas of constitutional law and theory, with an emphasis on judges, judging and the judicial power. He is currently supervising three PhD candidates, and welcomes candidates interested in constitutional law and theory.