THE report into the hepatitis C scandal is not the first Finlay report. Since he, retired as Chief Justice in 1994, Mr Thomas Finlay has given his name to three major public inquiries, applying an efficient legal mind to untangle very different subjects.
In 1995, he oversaw the inquiry into the Lansdowne Road riot, producing a detailed and balanced report less than two months after the violence at the England-Ireland soccer international.
In July 1995, he was appointed to chair the commission on the newspaper industry, asked to investigate all aspects of the newspaper industry, including imports and concentration of ownership. This report was published in June 1996.
He was called to the Bar in 1944 and became President of the High Court and later Chief Justice during a career combining diligence in the preparation of judgments and pragmatism in decision making.
He came to the High Court in October 1972 with a high reputation as an advocate. He successfully defended Capt James Kelly in the 1970 arms trial and presented the Irish case when the State took Britain before the European Court of Human Rights for mistreatment of prisoners.
He became president of the High, Court as that institution underwent, major expansion, dealing with mores complex cases. In 1985 he succeeded Mr Justice Tom O'Higgins as Chief Justice. A number of landmark cases showed his characteristic approach of using common sense and experience rather than abstract principle.
He made another tribunal-related decision in 1992 when he ruled with the majority of the Supreme Court on Cabinet confidentiality. This ruling stated that the constitutional concept of collective government responsibility prevented the beef tribunal inquiring into what was said at a particular Cabinet meeting.
The most famous judgment delivered by him was in the 1992 X case, which overturned the High Court injunction preventing the girl at the centre of the case from travelling to Britain for an abortion.
Born in Dublin in 1922, he studied at Clongowes Wood College and at University College Dublin. He was a Fine Gael member of Dail Eireann between 1954 and 1957, representing Dublin South Central. He is married to Alice Blayney and they have five children.
