Chief Justice pays tribute to female judge

The Chief Justice today paid tribute to High Court Judge Mella Carroll’s invaluable contribution to the development of the law in Ireland.

The High Court judge, who had been battling a serious illness for several years, died just a couple of months after retiring from 25-years on the High Court bench.

At a sitting of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John L Murray, said: “As a judge of the High Court for a quarter of a century in trying every kind of case to come before that court she brought to bear her formidable intellectual capacity, moral rigour and deep sense of fairness and not to omit her unfailing courtesy and good sense of humour.

“With these qualities she distinguished herself in a remarkable way by the quality of her judicial reasoning and her invaluable contribution to the development of the law.”

Mr Justice Murray said those personal qualities had stood to her in the tremendous morale she showed in dealing with the illness which led to her death.

In 1976, following a successful practice at the Bar, Ms Justice Carroll was the second woman to be called to the Inner Bar in Ireland. She was later elected chairwoman of the Bar Council, the first and only woman to hold this prestigious position to date.

Credited with pioneering a trail for women in the law, she was later the first woman to be appointed a Judge of the Superior Courts in 1980.

“By her contribution to the administration of justice in the state and to public life Judge Carroll was one of our modern leaders who made a major contribution to the evolution of our contemporary society,” Mr Justice Murray said.

“Arising from that contribution it has been truthfully said that she was ‘a tremendous role model for all women’. The broader truth is that she was a tremendous role model for everyone. She will be sadly missed also as a great colleague and true friend of so many,” he added.

Ms Justice Carroll was also chairwoman of the ground-breaking Commission on the Status of Women 1991-1993, a Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation 1987-2002 and President of the International Association of Women Judges 2000-2005.