Former Supreme Court judge Hugh O’Flaherty has died. He was 88.In a death notice, O’Flaherty’s family said he died peacefully on Wednesday at his home in his native Cahirciveen, Co Kerry. O’Flaherty was appointed directly to the Supreme Court in 1990, making him one of a small group of lawyers to join the highest court straight from the Bar. He was one of the five judges who in 1992 decided the so-called X case. O’Flaherty sided with the majority in the 4-1 decision to allow the appellant 14-year-old girl, who was pregnant and suicidal after being raped by a neighbour, to travel to Britain for an abortion.The landmark judgment established the right to an abortion in Ireland if the pregnant woman’s life was at risk because of pregnancy, including the risk of suicide. O’Flaherty studied at University College Dublin and later King’s Inn. He was called to the Bar in 1959 and was made a senior counsel in 1976.He was for a period the youngest member of the Inner Bar. He often appeared in cases for the State.O’Flaherty resigned from his position on the Supreme Court in 1999 amid controversy over his intervention in the case of Philip Sheedy, an architect who in 1997 pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. O’Flaherty, who spent time between his home in Sandymount, Dublin, and Cahirciveen, was predeceased by his wife Kathleen. He is survived by his children Hugh, Catherine, Rory and Bríd.The death notice states O’Flaherty will be reposing at Daly Funeral Home, Cahirciveen, on Thursday from 6pm to 8pm. A funeral Mass will take place at Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church of the Holy Cross on Friday at 10am. Another Mass will take place on Saturday at The Star of the Sea, Sandymount. Burial will take place at Kilternan Cemetery after the 10am service.