Adrian Hardiman (21 May 1951 – 7 March 2016) was an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2000 to 2016. Early life and education Adrian Hardiman was born on 21 May 1951, in Coolock, Dublin. His father was a teacher and President of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI). He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and University College Dublin, where he studied history, and the King's Inns. He was president of the Student Representative Council at UCD and Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society (UCD) and won The Irish Times National Debating Championship in 1973. Family Hardiman was married to Judge Yvonne Murphy, from County Donegal, a judge of the Circuit Court between 1998 and 2012, who conducted important inquiries relating to sex abuse including the Murphy Report and the Cloyne Report. She has been chair of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby homes. Justice Hardiman and Judge Murphy had three sons, one of whom, Eoin, is a barrister and has been a member of the Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee; Hugh, who was a personal assistant to Michael McDowell, when McDowell was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform; and Daniel, a Doctor. Political career While involved with Fine Gael, he subsequently joined Fianna Fáil while a student in University College Dublin, and stood (unsuccessfully) for Fianna Fáil in the local elections in Dún Laoghaire in 1985. In 1985, he became a founder member of the Progressive Democrats, but left the party when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He remained very friendly with the former party leader and ex-Tánaiste, Michael McDowell, who was a close friend at college, a fellow founding member of the party, and best man at his wedding. Legal career Hardiman was called to the Irish Bar in 1974, where he had a successful practice as a barrister, focusing on criminal law and defamation. In 2000, he received the rare honour of being appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court, Ireland's highest court. In a tribute following his death in 2016, President Michael D. Higgins said Justice Hardiman "was one of the great legal minds of his generation", who was "always committed to the ideals of public service". He was described as a "colossus of the legal world" by Chief Justice Susan Denham. One commentator wrote that "Hardiman’s greatest contribution ...was the