David Collins is a Judge of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand. He was the Solicitor-General of New Zealand from 1 September 2006 to 15 March 2012, before being made a judge of the High Court in 2012. Collins graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a LL. B. in 1975 and an LL. M. in 1976. He was awarded an LL. D. by Victoria University in 1993. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Law at Victoria University, he has a LL. M. Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law in the United States. Collins was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1976, he was admitted to the State of Victoria Bar and the High Court of Australia Bar in 1986. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000. Upon graduating from Victoria University in 1975, Collins took up a three-month research position at Rhyne & Rhyne in Washington DC. After this role concluded he returned to New Zealand and completed his LL. M, he commenced a two-year clerkship for the Judges of the High Court and Court of Appeal of New Zealand between 1976 and 1978.

In 1979, Collins commenced practicing law in Wellington as a solicitor for Chapman Tripp. In 1982 he was admitted to partnership in a firm that subsequently merged and is today known as Rainey Collins, he remained at the firm until 1995. In 1996 he left practice to become a barrister. During this period he conducted several appeals before the Privy Council in London, he took silk in 2000. Prior to his appointment as Solicitor-General, Collins was Chair of the Accident Compensation Commission, Chair of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. Collins has served terms as President of the Wellington District Law Society, Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society, Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Governors, World Association of Law and Medicine. In 2006, Collins was appointed Solicitor-General, he remained in this role. He appeared as senior counsel in over 30 Supreme Court and Privy Council decisions, including: permanent dead link] North Shore City Council v Attorney-General 1 NZLR 296 Chapman v Attorney-General NZSC 110 R v Gwaze 3 NZLR 734 Saxmere Company Ltd v Wool Board Disestablishment Company Ltd 1 NZLR 35, 76 Bain v R UKPC 4 Phipps v RACS 2 NZLR 513 R v Ramstead 2 AC 92, 1 NZLR 513 Treaty Tribes Coalition and Others v Urban Maori Authority 1 NZLR 513 Collins has authored a textbook, has been a contributory author for three other texts.

He has written a number of articles. Collins has been involved in mountaineering and tramping

Irvinestown is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. In 2008 it had an estimated population of 2,081 people; the most notable building is the ruined 18th-century church. It is situated within Omagh district. Before the Plantation of Ulster, the area was known as Nakerny; the village was named Lowtherstown. Ownership passed to the Irvines of Dumfries and the name changed accordingly. Nearby is Necarne Castle known as Castle Irvine, now an equestrian school – Necarne Castle Equestrian School; the village boasts the annual Lady of The Lake Festival, a large 10-day summer festival and carnival which begins on the first Friday following the 12th of July. It is the largest cross-community Festival to be held in Northern Ireland and is named after the mythical figure, said to appear gliding over the waters of Lower Lough Erne, wearing a flowing blue gown and carrying a bunch of flowers; the Lady is said to be an omen of good times to come. The nearby Castle Archdale Country Park on the shores of Lower Lough Erne was used as an RAF base for Sunderland flying boats in WWII, with Catalina flying boats at RAF Killadeas, today provides lakeshore & woodland walking/cycling paths, caravan park, tea rooms and boating marina.

Other features within the park include a red deer enclosure, wildfowl ponds, nature trail, butterfly garden and wildflower meadow. Irvinestown railway station on the Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway was opened on 13 June 1866 and closed on 1 October 1957. Ulsterbus routes 83 and 94A stop in Irvinestown. Sinéad Quinn, a singer/songwriter who came second in the first series of the BBC's Fame Academy, has since recorded an album entitled "Ready To Run". Andrew Graham, Northern Irish astronomer, orbit computer, discoverer of the asteroid 9 Metis; the village has a number of sporting organisations such as Irvinestown Wanderers Football Club, St. Molaise's GAA, Irvinestown Tennis Club and more; the Bawnacre leisure centre provides many sporting facilities including squash courts, tennis courts, indoor & outdoor football, indoor gymnasium and sauna / steam room. The area is a rich haven of sport and recreation, a fact recognised when the long-serving manager George Beacom was appointed an O. B. E. for services to sport in the local community.

St. Molaise's GAA Gaelic football team can trace its roots to 1918 when the team was represented at the county convention of that year by C. Browne, P. Rafferty and J. Maguire. Hurling was played with teams fielded by Tummery and Glassmullagh; as the national spirit of the time penetrated local areas, Irvinestown gaels wanted to express their nationality by playing Gaelic Football. The first recorded match was played at a sports day on 15 August against Fintona Pearses at Loughterash and Fintona won by a 0-5 to 0-3 scoreline; the game was played in Kilskeery because of a ban on G. A. A. Activities at the time meant that St. Molaise's home pitch, a field belonging to John Maguire at Drumharvey, was under the watchful eye of three hundred soldiers and R. I. C. who had cycled into the village from early morning suitably equipped for any ensuing trouble. The troubles of the 1920s disrupted the playing of league games and it was not until 1924 that Tommy Maguire, Jimmy Thompson and Father Lappin made efforts to get the game going again.

A hall committee was set up to organise building a hall as a focal point for meetings, fund raising, etc. and St. Molaise Hall was opened on 13 September 1925. In 1924 the old football field at Drumharvey was no longer available so the club moved to a field on the Dromore Road for which they paid £10 a year rent; the cost of admission was 6d but nobody wanted to pay and spectators were content to stand on the road to view the game. Not to be out done the club made a large screen of meal bags sewn together forcing the spectators to come inside. St Molaise Park was opened on 11 May 1947. Eighteen months a group of men had travelled to see a game in Clones and were impressed with their new field and decided that Irvinestown should have one similar, they selected a site in Bridge Street costing £500 and after tender awarded the contract of preparing the field and surround to J. J. Scallon and Sons. Special trains and buses from all over the North ran into Irvinestown, for the opening, performed by Mr Daniel O'Rourke T.

D. President of the G. A. A. Tummery and Coa pipe bands were there to entertain the 10,000 crowd; the opening match was Lisnaskea vs. West Ulster selection, refereed by Johnny Monaghan, followed by Roscommon and Antrim refereed by Jim Vallely, Armagh; the Irvinestown Truck Festival was launched in 2000 and is celebrating 10 years in 2010. This is a 60-mile drive around the Fermanagh lakes where the spectacle of trucks raises funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care; the 2010 event took place on the weekend of 23–25 July. As many as 700 lorries have taken part in this event in the past and what a spectacle it is. Irvinestown is classified as a village by the NI Statistics and Research Agency. On Census day there were 1,801 people living in Irvinestown. Of these: 23.0% were aged under 16 years and 20.7% were aged 60 and over 45.5% of the population were male and 54.5% were female 75.0% were from a Catholic background and 23.9% were from a Protestant background 7.1% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed. On Census Day the u