Mr Justice Noel Ryan: Mr Justice Noel Ryan, who has died aged 87, had an eventful and distinguished legal career which culminated in his appointment to the Special Criminal Court in the 1970s.
Mr Ryan was also chairman of the Censorship of Publications Board in the late 1960s, resigning over what he saw as the inoperative nature of some of its rules.
Although he died on March 30th, he had been battling severe illness, in fact, since the early 1970s.
Described by Mr Patrick MacEntee SC as a "superb" judge and "extremely patient", Mr Ryan may be best remembered in the public mind, unfortunately for his public reputation, as the judge in the civil action taken by Ms Eileen Flynn, a secondary school teacher in New Ross, Co Wexford, who, in 1984, sought reinstatement following dismissal.
Ms Flynn had been sacked over her refusal to end an affair she was conducting with a local married publican which had resulted in her pregnancy. Judge Ryan refused her appeal, which had come from the District Court after an earlier hearing before an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
"Times are changing and we must change with them," he had said at the hearing in the Circuit Court in Dublin in July 1984 "but they have not changed that much in this or the adjoining jurisdiction [a reference to UK practice] with regard to some things. In other places women are being condemned to death for this sort of offence. They are not Christians in the Far East. I do not agree with this, of course."
These sentiments were widely criticised by, among others, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the then Fianna Fáil spokeswoman on education, Mrs Mary O'Rourke, who said they were "archaic and inappropriate."
Judge Ryan's characteristically robust method of expression might have owed something to his experiences as a judge on the Northern Circuit, which included the counties of Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan and Leitrim during the onset of the troubles in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which resulted in his having to try many terrorist-related criminal cases.
This aspect of his service was much appreciated by, among many others, a later president of the court, Mr Justice Frank Roe, who wrote to Mr Ryan on the latter's retirement in 1984 that "your courage and integrity were proved in the crucible of Co Donegal. Your implacable stand against terrorism and your determination not to allow your decisions to be trifled with by politicians were wonderful to behold."
In 1976, Judge Ryan was involved, as a member of the Special Criminal Court, in one of the most famous cases of a terrorist nature, when he and two colleagues presided over the trial and sentencing of Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle for the kidnapping of the Dutch industrialist, Dr Tiede Herrema.
His service on the Special Criminal Court brought with it many threats to his life, and he and his family had 24-hour Garda protection.
Patrick Noel Ryan, always known as Noel, was born in Dublin on December 13th, 1915, one of four sons of Patrick Ryan, of Dufferin Avenue, South Circular Road, a salt merchant, and Mary Moses Altman, whose own father, Albert Altman, was Jewish.
This Altman connection made Judge Ryan one-quarter Jewish, something of which he was very proud, according to both his family and his friend Mr MacEntee.
Noel Ryan was educated at Belvedere College, where he discovered opera and classical languages, for both of which he developed a lifelong passion. He later also developed interests in gardening and collecting antiques.
He studied law at UCD and the King's Inns, and was called to the Bar in 1939.
During the Emergency, Mr Ryan served in the Local Defence Force, the precursor of the FCA. When his own street was accidentally bombed by the Luftwaffe in January 1941, the young barrister won the praise of the Garda Commissioner for rescuing a nine-year-old girl and her mother from a blazing house.
In 1944, Mr Ryan married Lorna Coates, daughter of a builder from Kilbarrack, then a rural area in north Co Dublin. It was to be a very happy marriage, with seven children being born in due course.
Asked by an unwary inquisitor during his tenure as chairman of the Censorship of Publications Board what he thought about sex, Judge Ryan remarked wryly that, in general, he considered it a participatory as opposed to a spectator sport.
As a barrister, Mr Ryan developed an extensive practice on the Southern Circuit, especially in Co Tipperary, and also did much legal work for CIÉ.
He never took silk, and in 1959 was appointed to the Bench.
Mr Justice Noel Ryan is survived by his widow and six children, Declan, Oran, Trinette, Marie, Martin and Irene.
A fourth son, Fintan, was killed in a motor accident in 1987.
Patrick Noel Ryan, born December 13th, 1915; died March 30th, 2003.