Ronan Colman Keane (born 20 July 1932) is a retired Irish judge who served as

Chief Justice of Ireland The chief justice of Ireland () is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The chief justice is the highest judicial office and the most senior judge in the Republic of Ireland. The role includes several constitutional and administrativ ...

from 2000 to 2004, a Judge of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

from 1996 to 2004 and a Judge of the High Court from 1979 to 1996. Keane was educated at

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, and later graduated from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD) in 1953, with a BA in Modern History. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1954 and became a Senior Counsel in 1970. He was appointed as a High Court judge in July 1979. He was head of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the

Stardust fire The Stardust fire was a fatal fire which took place at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours of 14 February (Valentine's Day) 1981. More than 800 people were attending a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were ...

in 1981, and chairman of the

Law Reform Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

from 1987 to 1992. He has published many legal texts and papers and participated in

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

programmes developing legal systems in Post-Communist Europe. He was elevated to the

in 1996, becoming Chief Justice in 2000. Chief Justice Keane received an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from UCD in 2001, and has been an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

since his retirement. In 1962, Keane married Therese O'Donnell, who, as

Terry Keane Terry Keane (1939 – 31 May 2008), born in Guildford, England, was an Irish social columnist and fashion journalist. Life Born Ann Teresa O'Donnell in Guildford, Surrey, UK in 1939, Keane studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. She dro ...

, became a fashion journalist and later a social diarist. They had three children together, and later became close to Terry's daughter, who had been

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

. 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 The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

. Ronan and Terry's daughter Justine Keane is married to

Diarmuid Gavin Diarmuid Gavin (born 10 May 1964) is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He has presented gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show on nine occasions from 1995 to 2016, winning a number of medals, including gold in 2011. He has als ...

, the Irish garden designer and television personality. Keane was for some years the Independent Chairman of the Appeals Board of the Turf Club of Ireland.

References

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 Farmleigh is the official Irish state guest house. It was formerly one of the Dublin residences of the Guinness family. It is situated on an elevated position above the River Liffey to the northwest of the Phoenix Park, in Castleknock. The est ...

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...

, Dublin 23 June 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Ronan 1932 births Living people Chief justices of Ireland Alumni of University College Dublin People educated at Blackrock College High Court judges (Ireland) Alumni of King's Inns People from Castleknock Irish Senior Counsel Lawyers from County Dublin 20th-century Irish judges 21st-century Irish judges