Mr Justice Rory O'Hanlon, former judge of the High Court and a prominent figure in the pro-life movement, has died in Dublin aged 79.
Mr O'Hanlon had been suffering from stomach cancer for several months and died yesterday afternoon in the Blackrock Clinic.
He is survived by his wife, Ms Barbara Keating, their five children, and seven children from his first marriage. His first wife, Ms Mary Ingoldsby, died in the late 1960s when their children were aged between two and 16 years.
Mr O'Hanlon was called to the Bar in 1946 and became a senior council in October 1967. Early on in his legal career, he was also Irish language editor of the Irish Independent. His father Terence had worked with the newspaper group for about 40 years
During his time at the Bar, Mr O'Hanlon was professor of criminal and constitutional law at UCD. He was also the first chairman of the Arbitration Board.
Mr O'Hanlon was appointed to the High Court in March 1981 and became president of the Law Reform Commission in March, 1992.
One month later, he was dismissed from office by then Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds, following remarks that he would favour abandoning membership of the European Union if it meant allowing abortion into the Republic.
Some of Mr Justice O'Hanlon's legal colleagues expressed regret last night that his stance in later years on issues such as abortion and divorce had come to overshadow his record as a lawyer.
"It's a pity he came to be associated in the public mind with these issues," said Mr Frank Clarke SC.
"He was a great barrister and a great judge on so many other issues. He was a leader of his time at the Bar. He would have done a lot of the big cases at the time and would have done them on a pro bono basis.
"It's a pity in his last years he was associated with such issues. He would have made a big contribution as president of the Law Reform Commission. He had a very fine legal mind."
Among the areas where he made such a contribution was that of criminal legal aid, where he fought a case called Healy and Donoghue all the way to the Supreme Court, with Mr Clarke as his second junior counsel at the time. He took the case on a pro bono basis, and eventually won the right to criminal legal aid in the Supreme Court.
He was also a strong defender of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, perhaps reflecting his early connections with journalism.
Among the cases illustrating his defence of free speech was Lynch v Cooney in 1982, when he found Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, prohibiting interviews with members of named organisations like Sinn Féin, unconstitutional. His judgment was later overturned by the Supreme Court, though this rarely happened to his judgments.
As the son of a journalist, he did not come to the bar with the kind of legal connections that would have smoothed his career and would have had to work hard to establish himself.
However, he had a first-class degree in modern languages behind him, as well as the Gold Medal from UCD's Literary and Historical Society.
Despite his strong views on divorce and abortion, he was a tolerant person, and socialised happily with a number of younger barristers who did not share his views.
"He was great fun to play golf with," said one. "He'd go off to Mass in the morning and then come and play golf. He had a very mischievous sense of humour. He was just a very, very nice man."
He was equally nice to journalists, and this reporter found him unfailingly helpful and polite when contacted at home.
He never shirked from frankly replying to awkward questions, even when such answers would, yet again, get him into trouble.
Mr O'Hanlon's funeral arrangements will be announced today.