2016 marks ten years since the foundation of the United Nations Human Rights Council and concludes Ireland's membership of the council between 2013 and 2015. This article reviews the experience of the Human Rights Council as an organ of the United Nations tasked with promoting and protecting human rights and preventing their violation. It examines the establishment and reviews the progress of the Human Rights Council in its first ten years of operation. It then highlights Ireland's role as a member of the council between 2013 and 2015. It identifies the value of the two resolutions of the council led by Ireland, on the protection of civil society space and on the prevention of early childhood morbidity and mortality; evaluates Ireland's role in the treatment of states as a member of the Human Rights Council;