Former Supreme Court judge Donal Barrington has passed away at the age of 89.

The late judge, who called to the Bar in 1951 and became senior counsel in 1967, was recognised as a leading expert on constitutional law.

Over the course of his long career, he served as inaugural president of the Irish Commission on Human Rights and chairman of The Council of The Bar of Ireland from 1977-79.

Mr Barrington was appointed to the High Court in 1979, to the European Court of First Instance (now the General Court) in 1989 and eventually to the Supreme Court in 1996, before retiring in 2000.

In a statement issued last night, Paul McGarry SC, chairman of The Council of The Bar of Ireland, said: “I was very sad to learn this evening of the death of former Supreme Court Justice and former Chairman of The Council of The Bar of Ireland, Donal Barrington.

“In his long and distinguished legal career Donal always demonstrated remarkable wisdom and humanity, irrespective of the challenges he was confronted with. He played a pivotal role in many groundbreaking cases and was highly respected for his arguably unrivalled knowledge of constitutional law.

“His contribution to Irish society extended far beyond the law in his six decade-long career and he truly was an outstanding advocate of civil and political rights.

“On behalf of the members of The Bar of Ireland, I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to his family.”