Government Minister, Chief Justice and almost President - Tom O'Higgins's career was a truly extraordinary one, writes Joe Carroll
Former Chief Justice Mr Tom O'Higgins, who died yesterday aged 86, had a distinguished political and legal career, and failed narrowly to be elected President of Ireland against Eamon de Valera in 1966.
He came from a remarkable political dynasty, and was a nephew of Kevin O'Higgins, who was assassinated in 1927.
Mr O'Higgins who is survived by his wife, Terry, and five sons and two daughters, ended his legal career with a term as a judge of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in 1991.
He was born in Sunday's Well, Cork, on July 23rd, 1916. His father was Dr T. F. O'Higgins, who had been a member of Sinn Féin and the Irish Volunteers and was imprisoned twice during the Anglo-Irish War. Dr O'Higgins was later a founder member of the Army Comrades Association, known as the Blueshirts, and was elected to the Dáil in 1929, where he served until 1954, having been a minister for defence and and for industry and commerce in the first coalition government.
Soon after Mr Tom O'Higgins was born, the family moved to Dublin. He was educated in St Mary's College, Rathmines, and later at Clongowes. He was a brilliant student at University College, Dublin, where he obtained first-class honours in legal and political science. He took first place in Ireland in the King's Inns bar final examination.
He was called to the bar in 1938, and to the inner bar in 1954. He was elected a bencher in 1967.
During the 1939-45 emergency years, he was a company commander in an anti-aircraft battalion at Ringsend, Dublin, as a member of the Local Defence Force.
In 1948, Mr O'Higgins was elected to the Dáil for Laois-Offaly. On the same day, his father was re-elected for Cork City, and his brother, Michael, was elected in Dublin South West. As election results were still coming in, he married Ms Terry Keane, who had been born in Co Kerry but was reared and lived in England until they met on holiday in Ballybunion.
In 1954, Mr O'Higgins was appointed minister for health in the second coalition government at the age of 38. His main task was to implement a new health Act following the unfinished business from the controversial Mother and Child Scheme, which had helped to bring down the first coalition.
He will be more remembered for introducing the successful Voluntary Health Insurance scheme in 1957.
This was to be his first and last experience of ministerial office.When Fianna Fáil returned to power in 1957, it was to be for 16 uninterrupted years. Mr O'Higgins was able to resume his career at the bar, which he combined with a Fine Gael frontbench post. He came to be more involved with the liberal elements of the party, and was an enthusiastic supporter of Declan Costello's "Just Society" programme.
In 1966, Mr O'Higgins wanted to propose Clann na Poblachta leader Seán MacBride as an agreed presidential candidate with Fine Gael but was rebuffed. He next suggested former Taoiseach, John A. Costello, but was then prevailed upon to stand himself as representing a younger generation against the venerated Eamon de Valera.
While the aged President was content not to campaign, Mr O'Higgins ran an energetic campaign, emphasising the need for change and a greater role for youth in public life. He proved to be an attractive candidate and almost ousted Mr de Valera from Arás an Uachtaráin, failing by only 10,500 votes or less than 1 per cent.
The campaign and result greatly raised Mr O'Higgins political profile. For the 1969 general election, he moved to the South County Dublin constituency. Under the leadership of Liam Cosgrave, he became identified with the "liberal" wing of the party, which included Garret FitzGerald and Declan Costello. He also started planning with Labour for an agreed programme of government in time for the next election.
Reluctantly he agreed in January 1973 to be the Fine Gael candidate in the next presidential election due in June. However when Fianna Fáil unexpectedly called a general election soon afterwards, Mr O'Higgins felt obliged to give up his Dáil seat and concentrate on the presidential election.
If he had stood for the Dáil, he would have been a senior member of the new Fine Gael - Labour coalition which was then formed. In the presidential election, where he was the favourite, he was defeated by the Fianna Fáil candidate Erskine Childers.
With his political career ended, he returned to the bar and was appointed to the Supreme Court later that year. When a vacancy for Chief Justice came up in 1974, he was appointed to the position, which he held until 1985. In spite of his conservative views, he was seen as tending towards a liberal line in his judgments.
In 1985, Mr O'Higgins was nominated by the government to the European Court Of Justice in Luxembourg. During his six-year term, he was involved in several rulings on Irish cases. He was part of the ruling in favour of a number of Irish women who claimed that the government discriminated against them in social welfare payments. Mr O'Higgins also ruled in the so-called Grogan case when the court found against a group of Irish students who distributed information about abortion facilities outside Ireland.
Mr O'Higgins retired at the end of 1991. He later published his memoirs, A Double Life.