Turlough O'Donnell, PC (5 August 1924 – 21 April 2017) was an Irish lawyer and judge. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland from 1979 to 1989.

Biography

O'Donnell was born in

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

to a Catholic family, the son of Charles and Eileen O'Donnell. He was educated at Abbey Grammar School, Newry and

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, where he took a LLB. He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1947. He was appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1964. As a lawyer, he defended

Robert McGladdery Robert Andrew McGladdery (18 October 193520 December 1961) was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland. He was convicted of the murder of Pearl Gamble, aged 19, whom he had battered, strangled and stabbed ...

, the last man to be hanged in Northern Ireland. In 1971, O'Donnell was appointed a Justice of the

High Court of Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern Ir ...

. In 1979, he was promoted a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

and was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

, having declined the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

. He retired in 1989. O'Donnell was one of the few senior Catholic judges on the Northern Irish bench and he frequently came under threat. In 1979, he tried the

Shankill Butchers The Shankill Butchers were an Ulster loyalist gang—many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)—that was active between 1975 and 1982 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was based in the Shankill area and was responsible for t ...

and gave out 42 life sentences, a record in British legal history. He was Chairman of the Northern Ireland Bar Council from 1970 to 1971 and of the Council of Legal Education (Northern Ireland) from 1980 to 1990.

Family

O'Donnell married Eileen McKinley (died 2008) in 1954; they had two sons and two daughters. Of his sons, Turlough O'Donnell SC was Chairman of the General Council of the Bar of Ireland from 2016 to 2018, and

Donal O'Donnell Donal Gerard O'Donnell (born 25 October 1957) is an Irish judge who is the Chief Justice of Ireland since October 2021. He has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland since January 2010. He practised as a barrister between 1982 and 201 ...

was directly appointed from the Irish Bar to the Supreme Court of Ireland in 2010, before becoming Chief Justice of Ireland in 2021.

References

* https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2017/04/22/news/turlough-o-donnell-judge-who-jailed-shankill-butchers-dies-after-a-life-courageously-lived--1004553/ * https://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/obituaries/250290/obituary-renowned-judge-turlough-o-donnell-was-admired-and-respected-for-his-courage.html * https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-28756 * https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/senior-judge-turlough-odonnell-who-presided-over-notorious-troubles-trials-buried-35650459.html {{DEFAULTSORT:O'Donnell, Turlough Barristers from Northern Ireland 2017 deaths People from Newry Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Northern Ireland King's Counsel Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom High Court judges of Northern Ireland Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland