Declan Costello

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Declan Costello (born 1 August 1926) is an Irish jurist and former politician from the Fine Gael Party, who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for twenty years, as Attorney-General for four and a High Court judge for another twenty years before his retirement. Educated in University College Dublin, he was an auditor of the UCD Law Society.

Costello was born in Dublin, the son of John A. Costello who served as Taoiseach on two occasions. At the 1951 general election he was elected to the Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála for the Dublin North West constituency and was re-elected on every subsequent election until he stood down at the 1969 general election. He stood again in the Dublin South West constituency at the 1973 general election, and was elected for a final time, to the 20th Dáil.

During the 1960s Fine Gael was out of power and Costello was leader of a new generation of Fine Gael politicians who wanted to move the party to the left. He persuaded the party to publish a document called Towards a Just Society which supported economic planning and more government intervention in the economy. This document went on to define what Fine Gael stood for over the following twenty years.

In 1973 Fine Gael were back in government and Costello was appointed Attorney-General under Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave. He served in that position until 1977 when he finally left politics to become a judge of the High Court. In 1979 he would preside over the Costello Inquiry into the Whiddy Island disaster. He was appointed President of the High Court in 1994 and retired in 1997.