Seán O'Leary:Seán O'Leary, who has died aged 65, showed remarkable skills in politics and legal affairs.
He played a key role in the revival of Fine Gael under Dr Garret FitzGerald in the 1980s, served two terms in the Seanad and practised as an accountant barrister before being appointed a judge. He headed top-level inquiries into matters of national interest and was also a former lord mayor of Cork.
Tributes were paid to his life and work following his death three days before Christmas. Former taoisigh Garret FitzGerald and John Bruton and the present Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, praised his personal qualities of charm and good humour as well as his political expertise. This latter quality manifested itself more behind the scenes than on the hustings where he failed in four attempts to get elected to the Dáil from Cork.
O'Leary was born in Glasheen, Cork, on June 7th, 1941. He was the third of six children. After education in Glasheen national school and St Finbarr's College, Farenferris, he wanted to study law but instead worked to support the family following the death of his father.
He qualified as a cost and management accountant but also went into local politics and was a Fine Gael member of Cork Corporation from 1967. He had already stood unsuccessfully for the Dáil in 1965 and met his future wife, Mary Holly, at the final count in Jack Lynch's Cork city constituency.
He failed again in 1969 but there was consolation in 1972 when he was elected lord mayor when only 31. His maternal grandfather, John Horgan, had been lord mayor in the 1940s. O'Leary, in spite of his Fine Gael heritage, was the prime mover in the offering of the freedom of the city to then president Éamon de Valera, believing that he should have been offered this honour earlier.
In 1980, he realised his legal ambitions when he was called to the bar after studying at King's Inns. A year later he had plunged back into active politics when he was appointed Fine Gael director of elections.
Garret FitzGerald, who had earlier appointed him to the high-powered strategy committee to prepare for the election, wrote in his autobiography: "The director of elections was Seán O'Leary, a Cork accountant and barrister who had himself been a Dáil candidate and whose qualities of warmth and vitality, political gut instinct, natural authority, toughness and joie de vivre, together with his excellent relationship with our national organiser, Peter Prendergast, equipped him ideally for this task."
Another admirer was journalist Ray Smith who wrote of O'Leary that "a journalist could not go to a better fount of knowledge when it came to quotas and percentages".
A Who's Who entry at the time described him as "the eminence grise of the Fine Gael party, a shrewd strategist who prefers to maintain a low profile".
Following Fine Gael and Labour's entry into government in 1981, he was nominated to the Seanad as one of the taoiseach's 11. "I have a constituency of one," he would quip to friends. The following year, he was again director of elections for the two contests in February and November and nominated again to the Seanad when the coalition returned to government at the end of 1982.
In the Seanad he spoke on a wide range of subjects. He showed his independence when he was expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party for voting against the government in 1985 on the Criminal Justice Bill.
In her cabinet diaries, At the Cutting Edge, former minister Gemma Hussey wrote on March 25th: "I'm absolutely furious because my friend Senator Seán O'Leary has been so messed about over his readmission to the parliamentary party. He walked out of a meeting of the 'special committee' on his readmission when Seán Barrett came on so heavy. God, they're such fools. Seán O'Leary is so valuable to us, he absolutely cannot be spared and shouldn't be alienated."
He continued to serve the party as director of elections in 1989 while continuing his career at the bar. He was appointed a judge of the Circuit Court in 1995 which ended his political activities although he continued to take a keen interest in the area. He was appointed an inspector in the inquiries into the Luas routes and the Ansbacher accounts.
His last years were fully taken up as Chairman of the Residential Institutions Redress Board to which he was appointed in 2002 when elevated to the High Court.
That he had reflected deeply on the administration of justice as a barrister and a judge emerged this week with the posthumous publication in The Irish Times of his critique of parts of the justice system.
He had realised that he would not be able to deliver these comments in the customary valedictory of a retiring judge. His comments reveal his concern for the poor in our society and the need for the legal system to strike the right balance without being unduly influenced by populist sentiments.
In private life he cherished a close-knit family in spite of the constant demands of politics and career. He was a keen bridge player and played squash until his last illness. He loved the large garden at the house and farm in Carrigrohane where the family had moved and where he kept bees and planted trees. A devoted Munster rugby fan, he travelled to away matches when he could manage it.
He is survived by his wife Mary; daughters Margaret, Anne, Mary and Catherine; son Patrick; sisters Ann Hurley and Mary Doherty and brother Anthony. He was pre-deceased by his brother Fr Paul O'Leary, OP and his sister Margaret O'Donovan.
Seán O'Leary, born June 7th, 1941; died December 22nd, 2006