Roderick Joseph O'Hanlon (11 April 1923 – 27 March 2002) was an Irish judge and barrister who served as a Judge of the High Court from 1981 to 1995. He was also President of the Law Reform Commission. He was dismissed by the Irish Government from presidency of the Law Reform Commission in 1992, after commenting that if Ireland's membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

forced the introduction of abortion to Ireland, the country should withdraw from the bloc. He later sued the Government and won substantial damages. Post-retirement, O'Hanlon took an active part in campaigning to oppose the divorce referendum of 1995, calling divorce "a grave offence against

natural law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...

". During the lead-up to the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty, it was revealed in an interview that he was a member of the secretive Catholic organisation,

Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies. Opus Dei is officially r ...

. He died in March 2002 after a battle with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

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‘Hello Divorce, Goodbye Daddy’: 20 years after Irish said Yes

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