COLM ALLEN:THE BARRISTER and senior counsel Colm Allen, who has died, came to prominence representing a variety of clients at the planning tribunal, originally the Flood and subsequently the Mahon tribunal.
He represented the Bailey brothers, Michael and Thomas, and the former radio boss and impresario Oliver Barry. He also represented former government press secretary Frank Dunlop during his early appearances at the tribunal.
Dunlop publicly apologised to Allen and the other members of his legal team in 2000 for placing them in a “difficult situation” after a dramatic turn in his evidence when he admitted making payments to councillors to influence their votes on planning matters.
Allen subsequently said he was “incandescent with rage” when he discovered that Dunlop had misled his legal team about the secret bank account used for planning payments.
Many of Allen’s exchanges with tribunal witness James Gogarty were broadcast to the nation when actors voiced the tribunal proceedings on journalist Vincent Browne’s RTÉ radio programme.
He later recalled: “Most of the Gogarty module was equivalent to a Roman circus with Mr Gogarty being wheeled in every morning and the unfortunates on this side of the bench being flung to him; he very definitely being the lion and we being the Christians.”
In 2005 he was angered by comments made by Mr Justice Flood (for whom he had devilled) on RTÉ radio, alleging that he and fellow barrister, Garrett Cooney, had introduced an “adversarial factor” to the tribunal, and had used “virulent language”.
Born in Dublin in 1951, Colm Allen was educated at Marian College, Ballsbridge. He later studied at UCD, where he was auditor of the Law Society, and King’s Inns. In his inaugural address to the Law Society, when he shared the platform with Seán MacBride SC, he focused on access to legal services.
“Where is the equality between the successful businessman who can brief the best legal minds in the country whenever he finds himself in a spot of difficulty and the poor man who is dependent on the munificence of some solicitor?” he asked.
Called to the Bar in 1973, he was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in 1981. He became a senior counsel in 1992.
By now established on the Dublin circuit, in the 1980s he represented the families of two of the nine victims of the Eastbourne air disaster, the first at the inquest and the second in a compensation claim.
Writing in this newspaper in 1989, he denied the charge of exclusivity against his profession, which he insisted was representative of “the entire cross section of our society”. And he rejected the image of the Bar as a “wealthy profession” as irrelevant.
In 1990, he was paid substantial damages and costs in settlement of a libel action he took against Irish Press plc. The action arose from an article in the Sunday Pressin 1986.
In 1992, he represented the former chief executive of Hibernia Meats, Oliver Murphy, at the beef tribunal, where he revealed that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats had, between them, received £103,500 in donations from the company between 1987 and 1989.
The political parties were not slow to ask for funds, he said. “There was nobody quicker out of the traps with his begging bowl when his neophyte organisation emerged into the air than Mr [Des] O’Malley.”
Notwithstanding his earlier libel action, he represented Irish Press plc at the High Court in 1994 when its former partner, Ingersoll Ireland Publications, was ordered to pay the newspaper group almost £8 million in damages.
Other clients included boxer Steve Collins and the IRFU, while he advised Sir Alex Ferguson in the Rock of Gibraltar ownership case which was settled out of court.
In 2003, he apologised to Judge Michael Patwell who had admonished him for not wearing a wig and gown in his court, assuring the judge that he meant no disrespect.
He served as honorary treasurer of the Law Society, and in 2006 was appointed chairman of the Rehab Group. A member of the St Stephen’s Green Club, he also held membership of the Fitzwilliam tennis club and Rathsallagh golf club.
Who's Whoin 2006 described him as follows: "[A] gregarious, wonderful raconteur, loves to sing at parties, larger than life" and "with strong Fianna Fáil connections", which description was this week echoed by colleagues.
He is survived by his wife Amanda, sons David and Ben, mother Mary, brothers Pádraig, Diarmuid, Seán and Liam.
Colm Michael Allen:born 1951; died April 15th, 2011