Background: Mr Justice Murray

Mr Justice John Murray was born in Co Limerick in 1943. He was educated at Crescent College, Limerick, Rockwell College, UCD and the King's Inn.

While at UCD he was heavily involved in student politics, eventually becoming the president of the Union of Students in Ireland.

Mr Justice Murray was called to the bar in 1967 and his practice dealt with commercial, civil and constitutional law. He became a senior counsel in 1981.

His father was a civil servant and later a builder, and his mother a teacher, though she had to give up her job on marriage. He is the eldest of four brothers, one of whom, Michael, is state solicitor for Limerick, while Hugh is the architect of the firm Murray Ó Laoire. Eugene is the chief executive of the Irish Hospice Foundation.

Mr Justice Murray is married to Gabrielle Walsh, daughter of the former Supreme Court judge Brian Walsh. The couple have two children. He served two terms as attorney general, the first succeeding John Connolly in 1982, following the crisis involving the double murderer Malcolm Macarthur who was found in an apartment owned by Mr Connolly.

The then taoiseach Charles Haughey appointed Mr Justice Murray again as attorney general on returning to office in March 1987. Shortly afterwards, he was at the centre of a judicial row with Britain when he refused to allow the extradition of Fr Patrick Ryan to face explosive charges on the basis that the trial he would be given would not be fair due to the media coverage.

In 1991 he was appointed as a judge of the European Court of Justice, a position he served in until 1999 when he returned home to become a Supreme Court judge. He was appointed to the Supreme Court to replace Mr Justice Hugh O'Flaherty, who resigned over the Sheedy affair.

His Who's Who entry at the time remarked that he possessed "a cool and concise legal brain and a good sense of humour".

In 2004 he succeeded Ronan Keane as Chief Justice.

The Supreme Court has been involved in recent years in several high-profile judgments, the most controversial being the ruling last year which struck down as unconstitutional the 1935 law outlawing statutory rape. However, Mr Justice Murray was one of five Supreme Court judges who ordered the rearrest of Mr A, the man who brought the original court challenge.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court doubled the compensation award to Donegal nightclub owner Frank Shortt who had been the victim of Garda corruption. Explaining the decision, Mr Justice Murray said Mr Shortt had been the "victim of disreputable conduct and a shocking abuse of power on the part of two Garda officers, namely a superintendent and a detective garda".