Isobel Kennedy is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2018. She previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2015 to 2018 and Chairperson of the Referendum Commission from March 2018 to November 2018.

Kennedy is from Limerick.^[1] She obtained a BCL degree in 1986 from University College Cork and began practising as a barrister in 1988.^[2] She specialised in criminal and constitutional law. She served on the Barristers' Professional Conduct Tribunal of the Bar of Ireland and was a member of the Bar Council between 1995 and 1997. She became a senior counsel in 2003.^[1] Kennedy acted as a barrister for the Investigation Committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.^[3]

She became a High Court judge in February 2015.^[4] She was nominated following a selection process by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board.^[2] She acted as Judge on the Special Criminal Court until 2018.^[5]

Kennedy twice served as chairperson to the Referendum Commission, serving for the referendum to allow the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion and the referendum to remove blasphemy from the Constitution.^[6][7] The referendum on abortion had the highest voter turnout in a referendum since the establishment of the commission. Kennedy recommended in a report to the Oireachtas that the Commission be replaced with "a permanent Electoral Commission".^[8]

She became a Judge of the Court of Appeal in November 2018.^[9] Kennedy's appointment to the Court of Appeal at the same time as Caroline Costello led to the first Irish court with a gender-balanced number of judges.^[10]

She currently serves on the Advisory Committee to the School of Law at the University of Limerick.^[11]