Attorney General of Ireland, 2002-2007

Death Notice.
published in The Irish Times, 21 & 22 July 2010.

BRADY, Rory S.C. (Rathmines, Dublin 6) - July 19, 2010, after a long illness fought with heroic courage, in the outstanding care of the doctors, nurses and staff at the Beacon Hospital, surrounded by his loving family, beloved husband of Siobhán and loving father of Maeve and Aoife; deeply regretted by his family, his mother Teresa, his brothers Colm and Brian, his sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives, colleagues and wide circle of friends. Rest in peace. Funeral today (Thursday) after 10 o'clock Mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook, to Mount Jerome Cemetery. No flowers please.
"Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis"


Obituary.
Published in The Irish Times, Saturday 24th July 2010.

In expressing his "huge sadness" at the passing of Rory Brady, who has died aged 52, Bertie Ahern described him as "my closest and most trusted colleague at the cabinet table", and there was never any doubting the former attorney general's deep emotional and political attachment to Fianna Fáil. Yet it is a mark of his capacity to transcend party political lines in both his political and professional life that Opposition politicians were among the first to express their sadness at his premature passing. Although he became the highest law officer in the State, and had previously served as chairman of the Bar Council, Rory Brady did not tread the most usual route to the Bar – comfortable background and private school, followed by UCD and the King's Inns.

While he was educated in UCD and the King's Inns, he was born into a republican family in Dublin's Liberties in August 1957, and attended Synge Street Christian Brothers' school, taking great pride in both. In UCD he became close friends with other law students who were to become closely associated with Fianna Fáil, particularly the late Eamon Leahy, who was his partner on the Irish Times debating team, and to whom he paid emotional tribute when the latter died suddenly in July 2003. He was called to the Bar in 1979 and became a senior counsel in 1996. He built up a strong general practice, though he avoided the headlines. Many of his cases had Fianna Fáil associations, as he represented the party at the McCracken tribunal and later the Moriarty and Flood tribunals. He was also counsel to the then taoiseach Bertie Ahern in a libel action, and prior to his appointment as attorney general gave general legal advice to the party.

He was elected chairman of the Bar Council in 2000, succeeding Liam McKechnie, who only served one year in the position before being appointed to the High Court. Mr. McKechnie had been its vice-chairman. Among Rory's proudest achievements as Bar Council chairman was the erection of a plaque to those barrister members of the United Irishmen who died in 1798 and the Emmet rebellion, and the establishment of an arbitration committee at the Bar. He was appointed attorney general in 2002 and served during a challenging time, as his term saw the culmination of the peace process and a challenge by Ireland to the UK's discharge of radioactive material into the Irish Sea in the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Although he never sought the limelight, he has been credited with a major role in the peace process, and Bertie Ahern described his contribution there as "extraordinarily significant".

His concern was not only with affairs of state, however, and he took a close and personal interest in the case of Tristan Dowse, an Indonesian boy adopted in Indonesia by an Irishman and his Azerbaijani wife, but later returned by them to the orphanage. He took a successful case in the High Court seeking a declaration that the couple had failed in their duty to care and provide for their adopted son, an order directing them to do so, and a number of associated orders relating to his accommodation, care, support and maintenance. The case established the principle that a child adopted abroad by Irish citizens was entitled to the protection of the Irish State, and indicated that the attorney general would uphold those rights. He later asked the Law Reform Commission to report on aspects of inter-country adoption law in the light of this case. Despite his central role in the legal and political worlds, he was an unassuming man who never took on the airs and graces too often associated with members of the inner bar. One friend said he was never known to wield a golf club, and a female colleague described him as "very, very kind".

Quintessentially a family man, he was immensely devoted to his wife and two daughters and his one indulgence was holidays abroad with his family. A civil servant who accompanied him on a State trip to New York recalled the importance, for him, of shopping for the right articles of clothing to bring home to his daughters. He was also deeply religious in a traditional way, though he was very private about his faith, and at his removal the Donnybrook parish priest spoke of his devotion to the Virgin Mary and the saints, in particularly Padre Pio.

When he returned to the bar in 2007, he took a particular interest in alternative dispute resolution. He acted as mediator in the solution of the dispute between broadcaster Pat Kenny and his neighbour, Gerard Charlton, over land between their two houses. Shortly after returning to the bar, however, the first symptoms of the illness that was to claim him emerged. While he battled it successfully for a time and returned to work, he finally succumbed on Wednesday last.

He is survived by his wife, Siobhán, and his daughters Maeve and Aoife.



His birth was registered in Dublin South district in Q3, 1957, as Francis R. Brady.