Tom O'Higgins

Thomas Francis O'Higgins (23 July 1916 – 25 February 2003) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, barrister and judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland and a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1974 to 1985, a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1985 to 1991, a Judge of the High Court from 1973 to 1974, Deputy leader of Fine Gael from 1972 to 1977 and Minister for Health from 1954 to 1957.

O'Higgins was born in Cork in 1916, and came from an influential Irish political family: his father was Thomas F. O'Higgins and his uncle was Kevin O'Higgins.

Both had been ministers during their political careers and were highly influential on the Cumann na nGaedheal political party which governed Ireland immediately upon independence from the United Kingdom.

In 1923, Dr. Thomas Higgins (Tom's grandfather) was killed by members of the Anti-Treaty IRA during a raid and in 1927, Kevin O'Higgins was assassinated by Irish republicans in a revenge killing; Kevin O'Higgins had been the Minister for Justice during the Irish Civil War who signed the death warrants of 77 members of the IRA.

As a result of these murders, TF O'Higgins (Tom's father) was radicalised and would become a member of the Blueshirts, a radical right-wing paramilitary explicitly opposed to the IRA which eventually merged into Fine Gael, the political successor of Cumann na nGaedheal.

Despite this background, O'Higgins never embraced bitterness or anti-republicanism, and instead espoused a forward-looking politics which sought to advance Irish politics beyond the wounds of the Irish Civil War.

Nonetheless, he would always defend his father's membership of the Blueshirts as a requirement for upholding free speech and democracy in Ireland.

O'Higgins was educated at St Mary's College, Dublin, Clongowes Wood College and University College Dublin, where he became auditor of the Literary and Historical Society.

He later attended King's Inns.

In 1938, he qualified as a barrister and was called to the Bar.

O'Higgins political career began during the 1943 Irish general election when he unsuccessfully stood on behalf of Fine Gael in the Dublin City South constituency.

O'Higgins did not stand in the snap general election of 1944, instead choosing to campaign on behalf of his father.

However, at this time he founded the "Central Branch" of Fine Gael which gathered younger members of the party together.

Additionally, O'Higgins also began to write for the policy review magazine The Forum.

He also served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1948 to 1969.

O'Higgins first's successful campaign saw him securing the Leix–Offaly constituency at the 1948 general election, an area once previously represented by his father.

On the same day his brother, Michael O'Higgins, was also elected a TD.

Part of a new generation of Fine Gael leaders who emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, O'Higgins worked alongside Declan Costello and Garret FitzGerald to liberalise the conservative Fine Gael.

In 1950, O'Higgins was one of eight members of the Oireachtas chosen to represent Ireland on the Council of Europe; it was the start of a lifetime interest in European politics.

He inherited a department mired by the aftermath of the failed Mother and Child Scheme and now tasked with implementing the 1953 Health Act, which had been introduced by Fianna Fáil.

Doing so required O'Higgins to carefully manage both the Irish Medical Association and Fine Gael's coalition partners the Labour Party.

During his period as Minister for Health, he introduced the Voluntary Health Insurance Board (VHI), which brought state-controlled health insurance to Ireland.

In 1954, he was called to the Inner Bar.

In the Second Inter-Party Government (1954–57), O'Higgins was appointed Minister for Health.

In 1956, O'Higgins began to advocate internally in Fine Gael that the party needed to move away from the fiscal conservatism of the minister for finance, Gerard Sweetman, and managed to secure significant initial support.

However, his plans were scuppered by the Suez crisis which began in October 1956 and caused economic slumps around the world.

His manoeuvring was further damaged when Clann na Poblachta left the government coalition.

Nonetheless, in the years afterwards, O'Higgins began closely working with fellow second-generation Fine Gael members Garret FitzGerald and Declan Costello to shift Fine Gael ideologically leftwards.

The culmination of this was Costello producing a document entitled Towards a Just Society which advocated that Fine Gael adopt social democratic policies.

In the late 1960s, and early 1970s, O'Higgins twice contested the presidency of Ireland for his party; in his first attempt in 1966, he lost by 1% of the vote against incumbent President Éamon de Valera.

In the aftermath, his personal image was greatly enhanced and he was catapulted into the position of deputy leader of Fine Gael.

Fine Gael adopted the document as the basis for their election manifesto for the 1965 Irish general election.

O'Higgins supported this move; additionally, O'Higgins attempted to win over fellow party members to this move.

He also attempted to build bridges with members of the Labour Party.

When Liam Cosgrave succeeded James Dillon as leader of Fine Gael in April 1965, O'Higgins was promoted to party spokesman on finance and economic affairs, replacing the conservative Sweetman.

Despite being the initial favourite to win, O'Higgins lost the 1973 Irish presidential election to Erskine H. Childers.

In 1973, O'Higgins became a High Court judge and the following year was named Chief Justice of Ireland and a Supreme Court judge.

Although a liberal politician, O'Higgins was considered by many a conservative judge, given his rulings on matters such as contraceptives and homosexuality.

In 1985, O'Higgins became a member of the European Court of Justice following his nomination by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and his government.

He served on the court in Luxembourg until his retirement in 1991.