Henry Abbott (Irish judge)
Irish former politician and High Court judge (born 1947)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Abbott (born 18 December 1947) is a retired Irish judge and politician who served as a judge of the High Court from 2002 to 2017.
Henry Abbott | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the High Court | |
| In office 20 July 2002 – 18 December 2017 | |
| Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
| Appointed by | Mary McAleese |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office February 1987 – June 1989 | |
| Constituency | Longford–Westmeath |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 December 1947 Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland |
| Party | Fianna Fáil |
| Education | |
Abbot is from Mullingar, County Westmeah, and was a barrister and farmer, before entering politics.[1] He was a member of Westmeath County Council from 1985 to 1999.[2] He served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Longford–Westmeath constituency from 1987 to 1989.[3] He received 8,035 (17.8%) first-preference votes at the 1987 general election, taking the second seat in the constituency, and Fianna Fáil taking three out of four seats in Longford–Westmeath.[2]
Abbott lost his Dáil seat at the 1989 general election.[2] In 1989, he received 6,733 (15.9%) first-preference votes, with Fianna Fáil taking two seats and Fine Gael taking the remaining two seats.[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Westmeath constituency at the 1992 and 1997 general elections.[2] He was also an unsuccessful candidate at the 1997 Seanad Éireann election.[2]
After politics, he returned to practicing law, and was appointed as a High Court judge in 2002. In 2013, he was involved in a controversy relating to a conversation between two judges about to a family law case.[4][5] He retired from the High Court in 2017.[6]