Profile Conor MaguireHis friends describe him as a teddy bear, but the planning tribunal does not generally witness this side of the Fianna Fáil 'gene pool' senior counsel, writes Paul Cullen
His father was twice a Dáil candidate for Fianna Fáil, his uncle was Dev's chief justice and on his visits to Co Mayo, "The Long Fella" used to stay in the family home in Claremorris.
With this pedigree, Conor Maguire has the kind of party political lineage made for the phrases "born and bred" or, in the cliche so overused during the election campaign, "Fianna Fáil gene pool". What better man, then, to be sent out to battle this week on behalf of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern against his putative tormentors in the planning tribunal?
As demanded by the standards of these legal jousts, the 60-year-old senior counsel rode forth boldly as the tribunal restarted its Quarryvale module with a critical run through the awkward facts of the Taoiseach's personal finances.
Accusing the inquiry of allowing itself to be used for a malicious campaign against the Taoiseach, Maguire claimed it had run the risk of interfering with the democratic process by circulating allegations against Ahern prior to the general election.
The tribunal has "postulated theories in respect of [ lodgements by Ahern] and has engaged in speculation and hypothesis based on inappropriate foreign exchange rates" while having no documentation to support these hypotheses, he thundered.
"Unprecedented," said tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon of Maguire's attack in his own riposte the following day, but Maguire stood his ground and repeated the criticisms.
And there things were left to stand, until combat is renewed at some date in the future.
To tell the truth, as tribunal battles go it was a mild enough spat. There was little of the fizz seen when former chairman Mr Justice Feargus Flood went head-to-head against his former pupil, veteran barrister Garrett Cooney SC, almost a decade ago, or the sheer theatre of watching the late Liam Lawlor taking on all comers. Or maybe, by this stage, we've seen it all so often before, and we know that barristers are like highly-paid actors who park their indignation once the court rises.
Maguire versus Mahon - here were two essentially mild-mannered men playing out the roles allotted them by the demands of adversarial law. Precise and controlled in the delivery of their respective arguments, neither strayed beyond the bounds of acceptable conduct. No bridges were burned, and no hostages were given to fortune.
"Conor's no egomaniac. He's not an attention-seeker and he's restrained in his approach. People took his outrage more seriously because of this," was one friend's reaction to this week's events.
Other observers, however, suggest his attack had more to do with the possibility that the Taoiseach is struggling to provide an explanation for the discrepancies identified by the tribunal. How much easier to attack the tribunal than to give an answer to the questions posed, they argue. The more cynical have even suggested this week's events mark the first stage in a grand plan to shut down the inquiry.
YET IN HIS role as Ahern's counsel at the planning tribunal, Maguire has already clashed with Judge Mahon and his lawyers. The biggest contretemps arose in 2004 when, during his cross-examination of developer Tom Gilmartin, he dredged up a 26-year-old Cavan land case in which the judge referred to Gilmartin as "shifty".
Judge Mahon excoriated his legal colleague, saying it was improper of him to "pull a quote out of nowhere". The public gallery erupted in applause in support of Gilmartin. Finally, Ahern, in his cross-examination by Gilmartin's lawyers, was forced to disown his own counsel's description of the developer. Gilmartin was neither shifty nor dishonest, the Taoiseach said, and no "hatchet job" was intended.
But with Gilmartin alleging this week that one of the Taoiseach's closest associates, Joe Burke, wanted £500,000 for help with the development of Quarryvale in west Dublin - a claim denied by Burke - it will be interesting to hear Ahern's current assessment of the developer when he next takes the stand.
Maguire, a large, bespectacled figure with unruly black curls, is one of those barristers who pop up now and again in the public spotlight. No stranger to tribunals, he was one of three senior counsels on the State team in the Beef Tribunal. He has a busy mixed legal practice, mostly in civil litigation, and he practises in Dublin and on the Western circuit, but he seldom hits the headlines.
Ahern's homilies on social capital seem not to have not been lost on his counsel, who has undertaken a number of onerous public roles that are, presumably, far less lucrative than slaving away at the Bar.
His most prominent public engagement is as a member of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), which he has chaired unobtrusively for the past decade. There is a Dev connection here too; he was appointed by Síle de Valera when she was minister for arts in 1998.
During his term, the number of commercial television and radio stations has been cautiously expanded, and the potential for disaster and dispute in a potentially fraught sector has been minimised. While he has clashed on occasion with RTÉ, these were mild affairs compared with the disputes generated in the broadcasting sector when Ray Burke was minister for communications in the early 1990s.
Three years ago, the BCI brought in a new code restricting children's advertising on television. Heralded at the time as a radical departure, the code now looks tame compared with similar measures introduced in the UK. His term as BCI chairman runs until December next year.
A fellow board member says the lawyer's performance in the chair has been impressive: "He's tough, he has a great attention to detail and for getting to the nitty-gritty in a situation. He's a formidable operator". The commission's decisions in relation to radio licences were often controversial and have been challenged in the courts on a number of occasions. "On each occasion, he has battened down the hatches and the results - the commission won all the cases - has been seen to be justified," says the board member.
Other colleagues talk of a good manager, who excels at introducing change into organisations while maintaining a commercial focus.
Election to the Bar Council in the 1990s demonstrated his popularity with legal colleagues, and he served as its chairman between 2002 and 2004. During that time, he took the first steps towards reform of the profession as demanded by the Competition Authority. Change came slowly to this most conservative of professions - indeed, this process is still continuing - but Maguire demonstrated a useful ability to nudge people along, one colleague recalls. He was also involved in developing the Law Library's headquarters at the Distillery Building on Church Street in Dublin, and in acquiring land locally to secure the council's future in the area near the Four Courts.
With his close involvement with Fianna Fáil, he might expect to land the job of Attorney General, a job currently occupied by his predecessor as chairman of the Bar Council, Rory Brady. However, the Law Library gossip has it that the job is likely to go to Hugh Mohan, assuming that Brady does not serve another term.
BORN IN 1946, Conor J Maguire was the son of the local GP in Claremorris, Co Mayo. His father George ran twice for Fianna Fáil in Mayo, in 1932 and 1963 (on the second occasion, he was in his 70s). George Maguire also served as the local coroner and "visitor in lunacy" and listed his ambition in Who's Who as "to walk on the moon".
His uncle Conor was a Fianna Fáil TD, an attorney general and a chief justice. Confusingly, a cousin carrying the same name, known as Conor "Big Band" Maguire because he hosted a music programme on radio, also served as a judge.
Educated at Clongowes and UCD, Maguire went on to train as a barrister in King's Inns, an institution he now chairs. He was called to the Bar in 1971 and became a senior counsel 13 years later.
An ardent Francophile, he and his wife Louisa, whom he met in UCD, holiday frequently in Paris. They recently attended the Cannes Film Festival to see the Irish award-winner Garage, which received funding from the BCI.
The couple have four children, all now in their 20s. None has yet flown the coop, although the marriage of their eldest daughter Eva will see her leave the family home in Rathmines soon.
His interests include the visual arts, not surprisingly given his involvement in the BCI, and rugby. Not a bit partisan in his social life, he counts Mary Harney, Mary Robinson and critic Emer O'Kelly as friends and knows Des O'Malley and his wife Pat from summers spent in Connemara.
Described by one friend as "a genial teddy bear" he is unlikely to accentuate that side of his personality when he tackles Tom Gilmartin at the tribunal.
The Maguire File
Who is he? Conor Maguire SC, Bertie Ahern's barrister at the Mahon tribunal, chairman of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland
Why is he in the news? This week he lambasted the tribunal for circulating details of Bertie's private finances, which were then leaked during the election campaign
Most likely to say:"Hold on to your documents, Judge Mahon - at least before the election."
Least likely to say:"That's the pure truth, Mr Gilmartin, the pure truth."
Least appealing characteristic:Occasionally, even professionally, grouchy
Most appealing characteristic:An absence of pomposity and hubris; a sense of craic