On three occasions, Hennessy's case against St Gerard's had to be adjourned due to judges ruling themselves out of the hearing. Each time, the judge deemed that their past connection with the school should preclude them from hearing the case.

The episode has again brought into focus the close relationship between the country's judiciary and feepaying secondary schools.

Hennessy finally got to begin court proceedings against St Gerard's last week when High Court judge, Kevin Haugh, agreed to hear the case.

Haugh fitted the bill as he had no links to St Gerard's but he is a product of the private education system, having attended Castleknock College in northwest Dublin.

It's a long-standing trend.

Out of the eight judges on the Supreme Court, seven were educated in five of the country's top fee-paying schools.

Susan Denham and Catherine McGuinness, the only two women in the highest court in the land, were both educated in Alexandra College in Milltown which, with annual fees of 4,620, is currently one of Ireland's most expensive schools.

Clongowes Wood, in Co Kildare educated both Hugh Geoghegan and Nial Fennelly, while Adrian Hardiman attended Belvedere College on Dublin's northside. The remaining two Supreme Court judges to have attended private schools, Nicholas Kearns and Brian McCracken, attended Dublin's St Mary's and The High School respectively.

Free education was only introduced in the 1960s and so at the time many of our judges were going through the education system, all schools had a fee of some sort. However, the fact that seven out of eight Supreme Court judges attended what went on to be some of the most expensive schools in Ireland displays the privileged backgrounds they hail from.

The prevalence of privatelyeducated judges in the Irish legal system is even more remarkable given that there are only 59 fee-paying schools in the state, with an average of 440 pupils in each. The only Supreme Court judge not to have attended what is now a private school is the top judge in the country, Chief Justice John L Murray, who attended Crescent College in Limerick.

The situation is not as clearcut in the High Court, although . . . as cases such as Mary Hennessy v St Gerard's show . . . the proportion of privately-educated judges in the High Court remains higher than the national average.

Blackrock College is one of the leaders in producing judges, with present High Court judges Michael Moriarty, John Quirke and Paul Gilligan all having attended the Dublin institution.

However, there are also numerous public school graduates on the bench. Mary Laffoy attended Colaiste Mhuire in Co Mayo, while Philip O'Sullivan attended Limerick's Crescent College. President of the High Court, Justice Joseph Finnegan, also attended Crescent College.

Private schools . . . most famously Gonzaga College, which has a reputation as Ireland's premier producer of judges and lawyers, including High Court judge Paul Carney and the current Minister for Justice Michael McDowell . . . have long been associated with the country's judiciary.

This has often led to claims that the legal profession is essentially a closed shop.

The Competition Authority has called for the 'opening up' of the profession. Currently, Kings Inns and the Law Society retain what the Competition Authority describes as "a monopoly" on training solicitors and barristers. As well as the cost of attending these institutions, the fact that both are Dublin-based discourages students from outside the capital from seeking training. Thirty-five of the 59 private schools in Ireland are located in Dublin, 32 of them within a few miles' radius of each other on the southside of the city.

"Not only does the monopoly held by the Kings Inns and the Law Society limit the numbers entering the field, the fact that students must come to Dublin makes it very expensive, " says Mark Garrett of the Competition Authority. "Colleges such as NUI Galway and University College Cork can already provide undergraduate training to people wishing to enter law, and it appears to us that they are capable of providing the further training required too."

The authority also claims the alleged monopoly keeps legal fees artificially high, with the average lawyer earning over 120,000 a year, more than twice the amount paid to other professionals such as architects and engineers.

FAMOUS FACES CHOSE PRIVATE The country's private schools have produced many of the great and good of Irish society.

Four of Ireland's richest businessmen attended fee-paying schools. Denis O'Brien attended The High School, Rathgar, while both Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary andMichael Smurfit attended Clongowes Wood in Kildare. Independent N&M chief Sir Anthony O'Reilly attended Belvedere College.

Blackrock College has produced a wide mix of Irish personalities, from comedian Ardal O'Hanlon and musician Bob Geldof, through to businessman Michael Buckley and President Eamon de Valera.

Some of Ireland's most famous writers also availed of private education. George Bernard Shaw was educated in Wesley College, whileWilliam Butler Yeats attended The High School.

Despite hailing from Mayo, Mary Robinson was educated in Dublin's Mount Anville, near UCD.

FF TOP THE PRIVATE SCHOOL POLL FIANNA Fail accounts for the country's highest number of privately-educated TDs, with one in every seven FF deputies having attended a fee-paying school.

Eleven Fianna Fail TDs attended fee-paying schools, compared with three Fine Gael TDs, two TDs from the Labour Party and one each from the PDs and Greens.

The 18 privately-educated TDs - 11% of all members of the Dail - attended 13 different schools. Despite the politicians in question hailing from seven different counties, 11 of the schools are in Dublin.

The most popular private school for TDs is Blackrock College, which educated Rory O'Hanlon, Ruairi Quinn, Barry Andrews and Jimmy Devins.

Belvedere College educated three TDs, Richard Bruton, Conor Lenihan and Brian Lenihan, while Cistercian College, Roscrea also educated three TDs, Jim Glennon, Gerald Murphy and Brian Cowen.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell attended both Pembroke College and Gonzaga, both of which are private, while Eoin Ryan went to St Mary's, Rathmines.

The remaining TDs to have attended private schools are:

Sile De Valera (Loreto Convent), Simon Coveney (Clongowes), Trevor Sargent (The High School), Michael Mulcahy (St Conleth's), Liz McManus (Holy Child Convent, Killiney) and Joe Jacob (Terenure College).

The Dail has a higher proportion of privatelyeducated members than the Seanad, with just four of 60 senators having attended fee-paying schools.

FF senators Marc MacSharry and John Gerard Hana"n attended Castleknock and Cistercian College respectively, while Independents Mary Henry went to Alexandra and David Norris to High School.