Mayo legal profession pays glowing tributes to Rory O’Connor

By John Melvin

Members of the Mayo legal profession have paid glowing tributes today to Mr. Rory O'Connor, solicitor, Main Street, Castlebar, Castlebar, whose death has taken place.

A native of Charlestown, Mr. O’Connor, aged 74, died on Monday after a short illness at his residence in Pontoon.

Prior to the sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court this morning, the president of the Circuit Court, Judge Raymond Groarke, District Judge Fiona Lydon, Mr. James Cahill, president of the Law Society, Mr. Diarmuid Connolly, representing the Mayo Bar, along with colleagues from the legal profession, members of the Court Services, including county registrar and a close friend of the deceased, Mr. Fintan Murphy, Mr. O’Connor's family and staff members who worked his legal firm gathered to hear tributes paid in honour of his 53 years service to the legal profession.

Leading the tribute, Mr. Pat Moran, solicitor, a long time friend and colleague of Mr. O'Connor, said Rory had come from a family steeped in the legal profession, as his father, Roderick O’Connor, had established a very successful business in both Mayo and Sligo.

Rory qualified as a solicitor in 1969 and joined the firm of Michael Moran in Castlebar.

He later went on to become part of the O’Connor Garavan firm of solicitors before taking over the business himself when the late Judge John Garavan was elevated to the bench.

Said Mr. Moran: “Rory ran a thriving and very successful business right up to his death.

“He was very much from the old style and always put his client first with the financial rewards from his work very much second in his consideration.”

He said Rory was competitive when it came to work and the same applied to his hobbies which included fishing and golf.

“He represented Ireland at international level as an angler and was not slow to tell you that their success was due in no small way to his efforts and skill on the fly!” said Mr. Moran

He said as a colleague, Rory was always loyal.

“He was a one-off really. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying he could be a bit sharp or even fractious at times, no more than myself and some of my colleagues.

“There was a bit of the devil in him but his colleagues loved him for that,” he said.

President of the Circuit Court,Judge Raymond Groarke, said Mr. O’Connor was an able advocate whose duty to his client always came first, any monetary reward always taking second place.

“The client was sacrosanct and he had a sense of duty to all his clients,” said Judge Groarke.

“He also liked a robust and, even on occasions, a raucous argument and he was not slow to give guidance to the sitting judge as to the decision they needed to come to.

“He was not slow either to let you know what he though of you – not in a bad way - but you knew exactly what he though of you with just a glance or a few words,” he added.

District Judge Fiona Lydon said her abiding memory of Rory O’Connor would always be his sense of humour.

“He had that je ne sais quoi, that bit of charm, and it was so clear that he was well respected and loved within his profession, a profession he served so diligently and with such commitment,” she said.

Mr. James Cahill, president of the Law Society of Ireland, said he would always remember Rory as the great storyteller - stories that were perhaps embellished, but it kept him and, indeed his colleagues, entertained at many social gathering.

Mr. Cahill said Rory was a loyal colleague a wonderful advocate for his clients.

County registrar Mr. Fintan Murphy said he had come to know Rory through three phases - a patron, a colleague and later as a friend and he admired and respected him as both as a solicitor and as a person.

“The one thing that struck me since Rory passed was the amount of emails and texts that have come into my office and no doubt to the office of other colleagues.

“The number of former clients who expressed their appreciation for what Rory had done for them as a solicitor was the most striking thing about so many of the messages of sympathy that have come through,” he said.

Mr. Diarmuid Connolly, on behalf of the Mayo Bar, said judges in particular felt that when they sat on the bench it was their court, when, in fact, the court belonged to Rory O’Connor.

“It was the mark of the man that so many of his colleagues should come forward to help out when he became ill,” he said.

Mr. O’Connor’s son, Roddy, thanked all those who paid such wonderful tributes to his father.

“If my father had chosen another profession I think he may have been an actor, for the court was his stage and that was where he was at this best.

“His legacy was his wit and his wisdom and I think it was his good friend, Pat Moran, who described him so well when he said: ‘he never grew up properly’ and I think dad would have agreed with that.”