Hussey was 'very strict but very fair'

Ms Gillian Hussey described herself yesterday as "a very average middle-class mature woman with no involvement in the criminal side" when she became a district justice 18 years ago.

"I thought I was going to be sitting in the civil court for the rest of my life," she said on RTÉ's Liveline. Instead she ended up spending most of her 18 years as a judge in Dublin's Kilmainham District Court, one of the busiest criminal district courts in the State.

Ms Hussey qualified as a solicitor in 1958, and was appointed district justice in 1984. She retired this year and although she did not seek publicity, her cases frequently made headlines.

Among the offenders who stood before her were singer Phil Lynott, convicted drug dealer John Gilligan and the double killer Michael Bambrick. She was an outspoken critic of the "revolving door" system, and in 1997 said she had "gone off" sentencing people because of the lack of prison places.

She refused to vote in a referendum to change the bail laws in 1996 because she saw no point in changing them when sentences were not being served.

Ms Hussey had a strong empathy with victims and in 1998 called for more State support for victims of crime who were going through "harrowing ordeals". In 1995, she told a priest on abuse charges he would not get legal aid because the Hierarchy would be "well qualified" to pay for him.

She took an interest in the progress of young offenders and visited them in detention centres. She encouraged probation officers to pilot group-work with young offenders.

She was involved in a taskforce on AIDS in the late 1980s, and was also involved in an initiative known as the "North-South Plunge", where children from Dublin's north side took holidays with families in the south side and vice versa.

"Very strict but very fair" are words often used to describe her. "She always gave everyone a chance but, by God, if you went looking for a second or third chance you were damned," said a former colleague.

A few months ago, she was asked by the bishops to chair a sub-committee to update sexual abuse guidelines. However, this week's appointment still came as a surprise. Asked yesterday what she would bring to her new role, she said she would like to be seen as streetwise, compassionate, understanding and ready to listen.