Sir Thomas Francis Molony, 1st Baronet, PC(Ire), KC (1865–1949)[1] was the last Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

He was also appointed to several governmental inquiries, notably one on certain shootings including that of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington in the wake of the 1916 Irish Easter Rising.

In correspondence with government officials, he expressed his particular disappointment that unlike previous Home Rule Bills, it was now proposed that the Irish judiciary would be divided.

"Molony corresponded with a number of other prominent members of the British administration including Edward Shortt, the Home Secretary.

As the Government of Ireland Bill left the House of Commons in November 1920, Molony sought the support of a number of Law Lords.

It was not an easy time to be a judge with violence raging and a new Irish government coming into power whose members had themselves shortly before been rebels.

Molony made an effective and dignified attempt to proceed with business as usual and uphold the laws of the land.

[6] One of the more notable events of his judicial leadership was that he administered the Oath of Office to the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State, Tim Healy.

His eldest son, Hugh Francis Molony, born in 1900, was a graduate in engineering of Trinity College Dublin and succeeded his father to the baronetcy.