Richie Ryan (politician)

Richie Ryan (born 27 February 1929) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician and solicitor.

Ryan was born in Dublin in 1929. He was educated at Synge Street CBS, University College Dublin (UCD), where he studied economics and jurisprudence, and the Incorporated Law School of Ireland subsequently qualifying as a solicitor. A formidable orator, at UCD he was auditor of the Literary and Historical Society (the L&H) and subsequently the Solicitors Apprentice Debating Society (1950) and won both socieites' gold medal for debating. He continues to serve as one of the Honorary Vice-Presidents of the L&H.

After qualifying Ryan worked for a number of solicitors firms before establishing a private practice in Dame Street in Dublin, in which he remained an active partner until appointed to ministerial office in 1973.

He first held political office when he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South-West in a 1959 by-election, and retained his seat until he retired at the February 1982 general election to concentrate on his European Parliament seat.

In opposition Ryan served as Fine Gael spokesperson on Health and Social Welfare (1966–1970) and on Foreign Affairs and Northern Ireland (1970–1973). During this period he was involved in a number of important pro bono legal cases, including the 1963 challenge in the High Court, and then, on appeal, in the Supreme Court of Ireland in 1964, by Gladys Ryan (no relation) on the constitutionality of the fluoridation of the water supply. While the court ruled against Gladys Ryan, the case remains a landmark as it established the right to privacy under the Irish Constitution (or pehaps more correctly, the right to bodily integrity under Article 40.3.1. The case also raised a legal controversy due to the introduction by Justice Kenny of the concept of unenumerated rights. Other notable cases involving Richie Ryan include a challenge to the rules governing the drafting of constituency boundaries and an unsuccessful attempt to randomise the order of candidates on ballot papers (due to preponderance of TDs with surnames from the start of the alphabet).

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