Timothy Sullivan

Who was Timothy Sullivan?

Timothy Sullivan was Chief Justice of Ireland from 1936 to 1946.

He was born in Dublin, the third son of Timothy Daniel Sullivan, a prominent Home Rule MP and Lord Mayor of Dublin. Through his sister Anne who married Dr. Thomas Higgins he was the uncle of Kevin O'Higgins and great-uncle of another Chief Justice, Tom O'Higgins . His aunt had married Timothy Michael Healy, the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State, and Sullivan in turn married their daughter. He was called to the Bar in 1895.

His strongly nationalist background made him acceptable to the new Government of the Irish Free State as a member of the new judiciary and accordingly in 1924 he was appointed President of the High Court; in 1936 on the death of Hugh Kennedy he was appointed Chief Justice and served until he reached retirement age in 1946.

His most notable judgment was the upholding by the Supreme Court in 1940 of the Constitutionality of the Offences Against the State Bill which allowed for indefinite detention of suspected IRA members.