Introduction
Ronan Keane (born 20 July 1932) is a former Chief Justice of Ireland who served from 2000 to 2004.
Keane was educated at Blackrock College, Dublin, and graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) in 1953 with a BA in Modern History. He was called to the Bar in 1954 and became a Senior Counsel in 1970. He was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in July, 1979. He was head of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Stardust fire in 1981, and chairman of the Law Reform Commission from 1987 to 1992. He has published many legal texts and papers, and participated in Council of Europe programmes developing legal systems in Post-Communist Europe. He was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1996, becoming Chief Justice in 2000. Chief Justice Keane received an Honorary Doctorate from UCD in 2001, and has been an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin since his retirement.
In 1962 Keane married Therese O'Donnell, who, as Terry Keane, became a fashion journalist and later a social diarist. They had three children together, and later became close to the daughter Terry had previously given up for adoption. The couple separated in the 1980s but remained amicable. Their son Tim died suddenly in 2004. In 1999 Terry revealed on The Late Late Show her affair beginning in 1972 with sometime Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Ronan and Terry's daughter Justine Keane is married to Diarmuid Gavin, the Irish garden designer and television personality.
Keane is the Independent Chairman of the Appeals board of the Turf Club of Ireland.
Publications
- Judges as lawmakers – the Irish experience Address to NUI, Galway Law Society on 1 October 2003
- 30 years of Law Reform 1975–2005 Lecture To Mark the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Law Reform Commission At Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, Dublin 23 June 2005
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Liam Hamilton |
Chief Justice of Ireland 2000–2004 |
Succeeded by John L. Murray |