Profile Bryan McMahon: A sharp legal mind and a love of the arts make him a strong and well-liked candidate, but can he put the Abbey back on an even keel, asks Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent
The new chairman of the Abbey Theatre board may be from the heartland of Kerry, but any notion that this is Judge Bryan McMahon's main qualification for his appointment by fellow Kerryman and Minister for Arts, John O'Donoghue, would be gravely misplaced.
In his new role he will have to confront a mountain of problems, ranging from the future of the theatre building itself to the direction the National Theatre must take. He will also have to restore the battered morale of staff in the wake of the worst crisis in the Abbey's history. He will bring a formidable range of skills to this task.
Born and reared in Listowel, Judge Bryan McMahon is the son of the Abbey playwright and novelist of the same name, who was a schoolteacher in the town. He has a commitment to the arts, and especially to the theatre, not only because of his father, but also because he is very much part of the rich cultural heritage of Kerry. He is an ardent GAA fan, and a fluent Irish speaker.
Born in 1941, the young Bryan McMahon attended the boys' national school in the town and then St Michael's College in Listowel, before going to UCD on a scholarship to study law. This marked the beginning of a very distinguished career as an academic lawyer - one of his three careers to date.
After graduating with a BCL and an LLB from UCD, he qualified as a solicitor in 1964. He then went to Harvard Law School with a fellowship. He lectured briefly in law in England, before coming back to Ireland to teach law in UCC, becoming professor and head of the faculty of law there, a position he held until 1986. In 1972 he obtained a PhD in law, at a time when such degrees in law were very rare.
Unusually for an academic lawyer, he then took up practice as a solicitor, becoming a partner in the firm of Houlihan McMahon in Ennis, Co Clare. He combined this with a part-time professorship in law in UCG, later NUI Galway, which he maintained until his appointment as a Circuit Court judge in 1999.
During these three decades he also managed to fit in membership of various European legal bodies, stints lecturing in law in the US, and involvement in the Law Reform Commission as a research councillor.
His philosophy of the law was formed under the influence of the late Brian Walsh, combining compassion and an empathy with ordinary people with legal rigour. He is firmly part of the Brian Walsh legal tradition - a cultural Catholic, compassionate, strong on due process and human rights, highly conscious of the law-making role of judges in the common-law tradition.
He co-wrote, with William Binchy of Trinity College, the definitive work on the Irish tort law (best known to the layperson in the form of personal injuries litigation) and also co-wrote a major book on European law in Ireland.
This career path is unusual, in that an outstanding law student such as McMahon would have been more likely to end up at the bar, and rise through its ranks, becoming a senior counsel en route to the judiciary. It is perhaps indicative of his background as the son of a rural schoolteacher, without financial resources or contacts in the legal world to smooth his way, that he opted for the security of the solicitor's profession rather than the more risky one of barrister.
However, it was as chairman of the National Crime Forum, set up in 1998, that he first came to the attention of the wider public. Again, he was appointed by John O'Donoghue, then minister for justice and an ardent proponent of a hard-line "zero-tolerance" approach to crime, with a commitment to an extensive prison-building programme.
However, after weeks of public hearings around the country, and a wide range of submissions from both experts and members of the public, the prison section of the report by the then Prof McMahon, began with the words "Prison does not work." It said prison should be used as a last resort and it criticised the prison system as "expensive, insanitary and overcrowded". It suggested that future policy should "avoid, where possible, committal sentences for those under 18 years of age; and to not imprison those under 21 alongside older prisoners".
SIX YEARS LATER, many of the suggestions made in Judge McMahon's report remain unimplemented, including that there should be a full assessment of personality, health, literacy, addiction, family and community background of a person before he or she is sent to prison, which should be aimed at rehabilitation. It also advocated a system of restorative justice.
Those who attended the crime forum, to present submissions or as observers, could not fail to be impressed by Prof McMahon's empathy and courtesy, combined with a clear grasp of all the issues involved in the complex area of crime, its prevention and prosecution.
However, none of it would have come as a surprise to those who worked with him.
"As an academic he is second to none," says a former colleague. "He did his PhD when no-one had one, and at a very young age. He was a professor very, very early. He was a very gifted teacher and very supportive as a senior colleague.
"He was also extremely practical, a hard-nosed businessman. He ran the faculty in UCC for years. Politically he was very astute and able."
He has an accessible, narrative-based teaching style, perhaps echoing his father's literary gifts, which also reflects the fact that the common law is also about stories - it is case-based.
"He was pioneering in that he got interested in European law and economic law before anyone else," says another colleague. "As a solicitor he was very much a practising solicitor, specialising in personal injuries and medical negligence, for both sides. The firm was used by a big firm of American insurers.
"He is very intelligent, and has a cultured view of the world. He's legally very quick in his thinking and has great breadth. He has a strong sense of humanity and is very good on human relationships. He handles an audience very well and makes you feel good about yourself."
HE WAS ONE of the first solicitors appointed as a Circuit Court judge when this legal jurisdiction was opened up to solicitors. His appointment was widely welcomed, including by those barristers who were dubious about the appointment of solicitors to the higher levels of the judiciary. A common comment at the time was "If we thought they'd all be Bryan McMahons . . . "
There is puzzlement now in legal circles that he has not been promoted from the Circuit Court to the High Court, for which he seems to be highly qualified. Another colleague speculates that he might yet be the first solicitor on the Supreme Court. Indeed, a fellow academic lawyer voices the unusual criticism that he has not yet been fully stretched intellectually by anything he has undertaken.
"He has never been in a situation where he had to work to the top of his abilities," he says. "He has not had to call on his deepest intelligence, he's never had to sweat intellectually."
Despite his formidable intellectual reputation, Bryan McMahon is universally liked, with a capacity to charm both men and women. Married, with grown-up children and living in Co Meath, he retains the full richness of his original Kerry accent, which he never allowed to be modified by the refined drawl common in legal circles. He wears his legal learning lightly, and is as likely to talk enthusiastically about the theatre or the GAA as he is about law. He also understands the need for financial prudence and can ably handle people from diverse backgrounds.
While few would predict what his views on upcoming controversial issues in the Abbey might be, one friend says: "He goes in confidently, he comes to a decision, and that's it."
"This role is a trouble-shooting role, and he's ideally suited to that," says one of hisacademic colleagues. "He's very well got, and very, very cultured."
The McMahon File
Who is he? Judge of the Circuit Court, leading legal academic, Kerryman, and much more
Why in the news? He has just been appointed chairman of the board of the Abbey Theatre
Most appealing characteristic? His ability to charm people from all walks of life
Least appealing characteristic? Has been known to be blunt
Most likely to say? Would there be a legal issue in that?
Least likely to say? You'll have to explain that to me again