Noyek (Noyk), Michael (1884–1966), lawyer and republican activist, was born in Dublin, son of Jewish immigrants. Little is known of his parents; his father was from Kovno in Russia and his mother from Berlin. He was educated at the High School and entered TCD as a sizar in Hebrew before winning a classics scholarship and graduating LLB (1907). Working as a solicitor in Dublin, he had offices for many years at the Star Chambers on College Green. His most celebrated legal work came in his defence of republican prisoners during the war of independence and afterwards. He was to the fore in defending many leading members of the IRA, including Gen. Seán Mac Eoin (qv) and Capt. Patrick Moran, who was executed for complicity in the shooting of British intelligence officers. Noyek's commitment to the republican cause extended beyond the law. He had subscribed in 1910 to a fund to build a house for Arthur Griffith (qv) and was the Sinn Féin president's solicitor until Griffith's death in 1922. In the 1917 Clare East by-election he was a prominent worker for Eamon de Valera (qv), and in the 1918 general election was election agent for Countess Markievicz (qv) and Seán T. O'Kelly (qv). He was later involved in renting houses and offices for all the ministries established under the first dáil. During the war of independence he regularly met Michael Collins (qv) in Devlin's pub on Parnell Square and helped to run the republican courts. Later, he represented Ernie O'Malley (qv) in 1950–51 in a case taken by O'Malley's estranged wife to evict him from their home at Burrishoole. After the case was won, O'Malley fêted him at a huge banquet at the house. He was a founder-member of the Association of Old Dublin Brigade and a member of the Kilmainham Jail Restoration Committee.
Noyek was a larger-than-life presence in Dublin social life in the first decades after independence. Keenly interested in sport, he played soccer in his youth for a team based around Adelaide Road and was for many years the solicitor to Shamrock Rovers football club. He was also a prominent figure in racing circles. He married Mabel Stein of Dublin; they had four children, William, Arlette, Ruth, and Denis, and lived for many years at 43 Wellington Road, Dublin. He died 23 October 1966 at Lewisham Hospital in London. A huge crowd, including the then taoiseach, Seán Lemass (qv), attended his funeral and, after the surviving members of the Dublin Brigade rendered full military honours at his graveside, he was buried in Dolphin's Barn cemetery. There is a portrait of Noyek by Seán O'Sullivan (qv) in the NGI, and his papers, detailing various aspects of his republican activities, are held in the NLI. His statement of record is also kept at the Bureau of Military History in the Military Archives, Dublin.