Former chief justice John Murray dies aged 79

The former chief justice and attorney general John Murray has died.

Mr Justice Murray (79) served as chief justice from 2004 until 2011 and retired as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2015.

He had previously served as a judge of the European Court of Justice from 1992 to 1999. He served twice as attorney general, between August and December 1982 and from 1987 to 1991.

Born in Limerick in 1943, Mr Murray attended Crescent College, Limerick; Rockwell College, Co Tipperary; University College Dublin and the King’s Inns. He was elected president of the Union of Students in Ireland in 1966 and 1967.

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He was called to the Bar in 1967 and became a senior counsel in 1981. He had a substantial practice in civil and constitutional matters and defended Independent Fianna Fáil TD Neil Blaney, since deceased, in the 1971 Arms Trial. He also acted in cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Commission on Human Rights and Court of Human Rights.

Eighth Amendment

He represented the State in opposing the action by Independent Senator David Norris aimed at decriminalising homosexuality. During his first term as attorney general, he drafted the wording of what became the 1983 anti-abortion amendment, the Eighth Amendment, to the Constitution.

During his second term as attorney general his refusal in 1988 to extradite Co Tipperary priest Fr Paddy Ryan to the UK to face explosives charges caused considerable controversy in the UK. He did so on the grounds that comments in the British media and by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons had prejudiced Fr Ryan’s right to a fair trial.

In 2013, he was appointed chancellor of the University of Limerick and chairman of the university’s governing authority. In early 2016, he was appointed by the minister for justice to carry out a review of the legislation allowing access to the phone records of journalists.

Mr Justice Murray is survived by his wife Gabrielle, daughter of a former Supreme Court judge, Brian Walsh, their daughter Catriona and son Brian.

Simon Harris, the Minister for Justice, paid tribute to “a most distinguished jurist” in a statement.

“He was rightly proud of the institutions of our State, and took pride in his own service in one of its great institutions, the Supreme Court,” he said.

“He will be very much missed by his many friends and of course by his family.”

On his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2015, the then chief justice, Ms Justice Susan Denham, said Mr Justice Murray was “passionate about the Irish nation” and that this was “infused throughout his work”.

‘Noblest ambitions’

In response to the tributes, Mr Justice Murray said: “Democracy is a challenge and the courts are a keystone in a modern nation founded on the rule of law. The executive and legislative branches provide the process through which the noblest ambitions of a nation can be achieved.”.

He said there seemed to be “a palpable reluctance nowadays to openly praise our country for what it has achieved, to express pride in our institutions of State, and to praise and respect our collective endeavours and successes as a nation”.

Respecting the democratic institutions of the State was, he said, “essential to maintaining their integrity”.

“One is only too well aware of their frailties, which can come from within and without. As a legacy from previous generations, we must remember that we should pass them on intact as a legacy to the coming generations.

“Certainly, one is only too well aware of our weaknesses and failures, but a collective endeavour and pride in our nation, where diversity is respected rather than regarded with prejudice, will allow us to better overcome them.”