The Gazette 1996

JULY 1996

GAZETTE

Mother &Child controversy (in ' 1951), 'I think that we have heard enough'." i These days, however, O'Donoghue's ! mind is directed to the question of law and order and the operation of the justice system. In March, he introduced a new Criminal Procedure Bill aimed at speeding up criminal trials. This proposed a major streamlining in the whole preliminary hearings process. While these proposals were opposed by the Government, the Fianna Fail Organised Crime Bill is being taken on board though extensive amendments are to be introduced by Í the Minister. • O'Donoghue has been highly critical of the Minister for Justice with whom he enjoys a fairly frosty relationship. While the Minister has been active in introducing legislation, O'Donoghue has hit out at many of the proposals variously criticising them as either too trivial or unconstitutional. He was particularly critical of proposals to j extend the powers of entry and arrest without a warrant. In his view, the consumption of drugs should be made a criminal offence along with their possession. He does, however, support a number i of other key Government proposals including the proposed seven day detention for drug trafficking suspects. "No ordinary citizen will be brought in to be detained for seven days just as no ordinary citizen will have his or her property assets frozen." O'Donoghue points to the fact that detained suspects will have the right to a judicial review within 48 hours. "I do believe that the Law Society should not have opposed this measure. The profession does itself no favours by creating the impression in the public mind that the Constitution can be used to shield the guilty."

rural district as O'Donoghue himself is quick to point out. "Tourists have been travelling the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula almost since foreign travel began. The people as a result are more cosmopolitan." But South Kerry also contains much rough terrain. It is not an easy place in which to carve out a living. "Strangely, I feel a tremendous affinity with Donegal. If you asked me to name those who are closest to me in politics among those would be Dr Jim McDaid (Fianna Fail TD for Donegal South West)." O'Donoghue's arrival on the national political scene coincided with a period of trauma within the Fianna Fail party. He remains strongly supportive of his former party leader Charles Haughey: "I am telling you that there have been few Irishmen of any generation who had a greater vision of the Ireland he wanted, or a greater love for it." O'Donoghue himself has acquired something of a reputation as a ! conservative on social issues, a reputation that he feels is not entirely j merited. One of his first jobs in national politics was when he was asked by the then Justice Minister Gerard Collins to lead for Fianna Fail on Alan Shatter's Judicial Separation Bill. He retains great respect for Shatter. "It would have been expected of me that I would be conservative." I would not regard myself as a rip roaring liberal, but during the 1986 Divorce I Referendum I did not take sides." "The people have now spoken. The fact that legislation was published prior to last November's referendum meant that people understood, or should have understood what it was l about." ! "Irrespective of how narrow the majority in favour was, the Oireachtas I has a clear duty to implement the legislation along the lines of that previously published." "As Dev once said at the end of the

"Pimpernel of the Vatican". O'Donoghue started in practice with a Dublin firm, Rutledge Doyle, which had been founded by the first Fianna Fail Minister of Justice, Paddy Rutledge. O'Donoghue has been highly critical of the Minister for Justice with whom he enjoys a fairly frosty relationship. After qualifying as a solicitor in the late 1970s, he joined a well known Limerick firm, Michael Tynan & Company. "It was a wide-ranging practice with a massive rural clientele, one which had been built up by Michael and Catherine Tynan and is now run by their son Greg." "The great thing about the firm was that one was not forced to specialise. You could be told one day to handle a contract for sale, the next day, a will. Greg believed correctly that people should be plunged in at the deep end." Meanwhile, the veteran South Kerry TD, Chub O'Connor, was approaching retirement. It was late 1980. An election could be around the corner. It was time to move. Together with his wife, O'Donoghue opened a practice in his home town. He put his name before the party selection convention. However, O'Connor decided that he wanted an encore. O'Donoghue lost out though party headquarters added his name to the ticket. Both O'Connor and O'Donoghue lost out as the party Dail representation dropped to one. O'Donoghue returned to help build up the practice. He had two more unsuccessful outings and was beginning to look like a bit of a loser by 1987 when he finally made it to Leinster House. These repeated rejections have left him with a sense that you can take nothing for granted. South Kerry is not your conventional 182