Paul Carney (27 April 1943 – 24 September 2015) was an Irish judge of the High Court from 1991 to 2015. He was the presiding judge of its criminal division, in the Central Criminal Court.

Carney was born in Dublin. He was regarded as a leading expert on Irish criminal law and presided over murder and rape trials since his appointment to the High Court in 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Carney was a former student of Gonzaga College,^[1] and a graduate of University College Dublin and King's Inns. He was called to the Bar in 1966 and was appointed a judge of the High Court in 1991. Both his parents were academics and founded a Department of Celtic Studies at the University of Uppsala, Sweden.^{[citation needed]}

In May, 2006 he was appointed an Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Law in University College, Cork.^{[citation needed]}

In September, 2008 he was appointed an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Law & Business at NUI Maynooth, Kildare.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to being appointed a judge, Paul Carney was a member of the Progressive Democrats. Carney retired on 24 April 2015 and died on 24 September 2015 at the age of 72.^[2][3]