JUDGE CON MURPHY: CON MURPHY, who has died at the age of 51, was a gifted member of the legal profession, a former Fianna Fáil politician, a lifelong devotee of the GAA, and a hard-working judge with a reputation for common sense.
With a west Cork accent that sang from the bench, he always took the trouble to explain legal nuances to a person whose day in court might be their only dealing with the law.
His appointment to the Circuit Court in 2004 was greeted with universal approval across the legal profession. Indeed, the high standing in which he was held was seen this week in the warmth of the many tributes paid by members of the judiciary, lawyers and politicians following his death after a short illness.
As a solicitor in Bandon for more than 20 years, he built up a successful partnership with his great friend James Long. As a judge, he quickly developed a name for decisions that were even-handed, humane and down to earth. Among his peers, he was renowned for his knowledge of the law and his ability to grasp the facts of a case.
Paying tribute to his achievements, the leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, aptly described him as “a man who will be remembered for his significant contributions to the law, his community and to Irish public service”.
Both as solicitor and as a judge, he featured in some of the major legal cases in Cork in recent times. In 2003, in his capacity as solicitor, he represented Ian Bailey in the journalist’s libel action against seven newspaper titles over articles and interviews relating to the investigation into the murder of French woman, Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
As a judge, he presided over the trial of financier Ted Cunningham who had been charged with laundering some of the proceeds of the Northern Bank raid. He sentenced Cunningham to 10 years in prison in 2009.
Coming from a family with deep roots in Fianna Fáil, it was inevitable he would join the party and became involved from the time he was a schoolboy at Hamilton High School in Bandon, through UCC and beyond. Immersing himself in the political life of Bandon, he contested three local elections, the first in 1985, to what was then the town commission, easily topping the poll on each outing. He served as chairman of the council before retiring from active politics in 2000.
Acknowledged as a shrewd political strategist and an authority on voting statistics, he served as election agent for Joe Walsh, the former minister for agriculture and his friend of 30 years.
Transcending the narrow boundaries of party politics, he counted his political opponents among his friends. As Cllr Andrew Coleman of Fine Gael observed “while we disagreed sometimes (in the council chamber) we were friends and neighbours. He would defend his political beliefs and wouldn’t hold grudges”.
Blessed with a positive outlook on life and a lively sense of humour, Con was perhaps best known, as the State Solicitor for west Cork, Malachy Boohig, succinctly put it, “for his wit, his candour, for being gregarious and outspoken but, mostly, for his application of common sense”.
As a boy, he found what were to become lifelong interests – a love of reading and a passion for hurling.
A voracious reader, he studied the lives of the great Irish and English politicians. An avid art collector and a lover of classical music, he travelled the world with his wife Miriam.
He played hurling at all underage levels up to minor for Bandon GAA but opted in his early 20s for the administrative side of the organisation, taking on the busy post of club secretary while continuing to coach underage hurling teams. In the words of Bandon GAA club spokesman, Colman O’Mahony, “Con Murphy was one of our leading supporters. Everybody looked up to him. He was Mr GAA in Bandon. He will be sorely missed.”
He is survived by his wife Miriam, his mother Teresa, brothers Phil and Dan, and sister Margaret Murphy-O’Mahony, a former mayor of Bandon.
Con Murphy: born April 5th, 1960; died August 1st 2011