THE FORMER Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice Séamus Henchy, would be relieved that a eulogy was not part of Catholic funeral liturgy, mourners were told at his funeral yesterday.
Fr Gearóid Mulvihill, the judge’s nephew, said he was a man who shunned publicity and the limelight. Observing that his uncle’s contribution to the body of law would be marked elsewhere, he said he remembered him as a family man, an affectionate uncle, godfather to a nephew and a niece.
“He was the first to visit my mother in Galway when she had me in 1949,” he said. “It is appropriate that I should have the honour of saying his funeral Mass.”
Fr Mulvihill recalled the hard times of Mr Justice Henchy’s childhood. “For the Henchys the way forward was through education,” he said. Mr Justice Henchy “was a brilliant and successful lawyer, but he never forgot his roots in Co Clare or his people”. The family would remember his generosity at crucial moments, always combined with sensitivity, he said.
“We will all miss his fine mind, but at heart he was a modest and humble man. By nature he was a very private one. He was not very pious, but his Christian faith was very deep. He was every inch an honourable man,” he said.
The mourners were led by his widow, Averil, his sister-in-law, Mrs Monica Henchy, nieces and nephews and their children. They were joined by senior members of the judiciary, including a number of retired judges.
The Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray, his wife Gabrielle, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Johnson, Supreme Court judges Mr Justice Fennelly, Mr Justice Kearns and Mr Justice Hardiman, High Court judges Ms Justice Budd, Mr Justice Herbert, Mr Justice Murphy and Mr Justice de Valera, retired chief justices Mr Justice Finlay and Mr Justice Keane, former president of the High Court, Mr Justice Costello, retired Supreme Court judges Mr Justice O’Flaherty and Mr Justice Griffin, retired High Court judges Mr Justice Barr, Mr Justice Morris and Mr Justice Flood, Judge Kennedy of the Circuit Court, former attorney general, Patrick Connolly SC, and Gerard Hogan SC, co-author of Kelly: The Irish Constitution, were among the mourners.
President Mary McAleese was again represented by her aide-de-camp, Capt Niamh O’Mahony.