Well-known senior counsel Patrick MacEntee was “the outstanding criminal lawyer of his generation”, a retired judge has told his funeral Mass in Dublin.
Among the attributes that Mr MacEntee, who died earlier this week aged 89, brought to his work were “sensitivity, kindness, and generosity to colleagues”, Garrett Sheehan, a retired judge of the Court of Appeal, said.
Mr MacEntee brought “a deep understanding and respect for the Constitution”, ability to “skilfully” cross-examine, and “fearlessness in doing whatever was necessary” to ensure his client was properly and fairly represented.
His sense of humour, allied with his kindness and courage, helped him through challenging times, “especially when he challenged institutions of State”.
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Looking back over Mr MacEntee’s legal career spanning 50 years, “the quality that stands out was his courage”, particularly when defending cases in the Special Criminal Court and elsewhere at a difficult time in our history, the funeral heard.
“He never stood back, he never failed to ask the difficult question.”
Mr Sheehan’s closing words, “Paddy was not afraid, he was brave to the end”, were met with applause.
Poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, in her address, spoke about Mr MacEntee’s passion for, and many contributions to, the arts.
He was a member of the board of the Fondation Irlandaise, which ran the Centre Culturel Irlandais, formerly the Irish College, Paris; member of the board of Ireland Literature Exchange, now Literature Ireland; chairman of the Irish-language drama company Amharclann De hÍde; and a trustee of the Kavanagh Trust. Mr MacEntee was also involved in many smaller projects. The arts were “at the centre of the adventure of his life”, Ms Ní Chuilleanáin said.
In his homily, Fr Thomas O’Connor said Mr MacEntee provided advocacy for those who most needed it, “the sick, the unattractive, the downright nasty and the damaged”. Those who “test the system” are those who most need advocacy, he said.
Who would “risk defending the indefensible” without themselves temporarily suspending judgment, disdaining public opinion and risking misunderstanding, subduing the self for the sake of the other, he asked.
Many serving and retired senior judges, barristers and solicitors were among a large attendance at the funeral Mass on Saturday in the Church of Mary Immaculate, Refuge of Sinners, Rathmines. Those present included Supreme Court judges Elizabeth Dunne, Iseult O’Malley, Aileen Donnelly and Brian Murray; High Court president David Barniville; Attorney General Rossa Fanning and bar council chairman Seán Guerin.
President Michael D Higgins was represented by his aide de camp while others in attendance included former Abbey Theatre director Fiach Mac Conghail, businessman Harry Crosbie and managing director of The Irish Times, Deirdre Veldon.
Michael MacEntee, Mr MacEntee’s brother, who lives in Vancouver, was the chief mourner. Mr MacEntee’s partner, Richard Reilly, who predeceased him, was warmly recalled in Mr Sheehan’s address.
After the funeral service, Mr MacEntee was laid to rest in Latlurcan Cemetery in his native Co Monaghan.
During a stellar career, Mr MacEntee represented defendants in many high-profile cases, including in the non-jury Special Criminal Court (SCC) in the 1970s and 1980s at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He acted in the controversial 1978 trial at the SCC that led to the convictions of those accused of the Sallins train robbery, all of whom subsequently had their convictions overturned or were granted a pardon.
In 1983, he acted for Malcolm Macarthur, whose senseless killing of nurse Bridie Gargan and farmer Donal Dunne transfixed the nation. He represented Brendan O’Donnell who was convicted for the 1994 murders in east Clare of Imelda Riney, her three-year-old son Liam and a priest, Fr Joe Walsh. O’Donnell, who advanced an insanity defence, died in 1997, aged 23, in the Central Mental Hospital of cardiac failure linked to an antipsychotic drug.
In 2000, Mr MacEntee defended Catherine Nevin who was convicted of the murder of her husband, Tom Nevin, in their Co Wicklow pub, Jack White’s Inn. She was also convicted of soliciting others to kill her husband.
Mr MacEntee was in 2005 appointed the sole member of a commission of inquiry into the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings, and produced his final report in 2007.
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