Richard Ryan (27 February 1929 – 17 March 2019) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Finance and Minister for the Public Service from 1973 to 1977 and a Member of the European Court of Auditors from 1986 to 1989. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1977 to 1986. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1959 to 1982. Background 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 of the Solicitors Apprentice Debating Society (1950), and won both societies' gold medals for debating. He served as an Honorary Vice-President 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. Politics He first held political office when he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael 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, for it established the right to privacy under the Constitution of Ireland (or, perhaps more precisely, the right to bodily integrity under Article 40.3.1.). The case also raised a legal controversy, owing 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 (owing to a preponderance of TDs with surnames from the first part of the