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GAZETTE
JULY 1996
Solicitor in the News -
John O'Donoghue, TD
by Kyran FitzGerald*
We are all pretty concerned about the
country's crime wave, but South
Kerry TD,
John O'Donoghue,
has
more reason to interest himself in
issues of law and order than most.
As Fianna Fail spokesperson on
Justice, O'Donoghue has been given
the job of marking
Nora Owen.
He
stands a good chance of eventually
inheriting what has become the hottest
perch in Irish politics.
Just forty years old, this up-and-
coming Cahirciveen based politician
has the careworn look of a man who
knows that sooner or later he could be
asked to take a few slugs froma
poisoned chalice.
Over the past eighteen months,
O'Donoghue and his Fianna Fail
colleague,
Willie O'Dea,
the party's
spokesman on law reform have, on
occasions, given the embattled
Minister a torrid time in the Dail.
In recent weeks, there have been hints
that the Minister's critics may have
overextended themselves, with Owen
starting to benefit from a modest wave
of sympathy within the media.
Sympathisers points out that she
inherited an unravelling situation and
has been forced to operate without the
full support of her cabinet colleagues.
But her opposite number has
undoubtedly been quick to capitalise
on the popular mood which favours a
law and order crackdown directed at
the godfathers of crime, in particular.
O'Donoghue's timing in introducing
legislation aimed at tracking down
and seizing the assets of people
benefiting from organised crime was
impeccable - if tragically so.
O'Donoghue has a strong political
pedigree. His father, who died in
1964, was a much respected veteran of
John O'Donoghue, TD
the War of Independence, a man who
would have no truck with bitterness as
his son recalls. "There was almost a
refusal on his part to discuss the civil
war. He was not a divisive figure."
With six children to rear, O'Donoghue
Senior had to be entrepreneurial.
O'Donoghue has a strong
political pedigree
Having originally worked as a telegraph
office worker in London, he built up a
many sided career as afish and turkey
merchant, hackney driver, publican,
auctioneer and insurance agent.
"My father as an auctioneer handled
the sale of the rail property following
the disgraceful decision to close down
the line to Valentia Harbour."
His son looks on his father's
generation with awe. "They were
tremendous patriots. They were proud
of their role in building up the state.
They wanted to build on what they
had achieved."
On her husband's death,
O'Donoghue's mother,
Mary
O'Sullivan,
took on all his business
responsibilities. O'Donoghue
remembers standing with his mother
outside Cahirciveen courthouse on fair
day while she conducted auctions.
She also worked as an agent for
Hibernian Insurance, drove a taxi,
ran a draper's shop and was a member
of Kerry County Council. "She
became only the second woman,
after
Kit Ahern,
TD, to chair Kerry
County Council. She was a liberated
woman before the concept was ever
dreamed up."
O'Donoghue decided to study law as a
means of gaining a foothold in politics.
O'Donoghue decided to study
law as a means of gaining a
foothold in politics.
"I have always regarded the legal
profession as the very best route into
politics. One learns a certain
discipline of thought and expression
as well as a certain erudition in one's
public
>
statements"
He met up with his wife,
Kate Ann
Murphy,
the daughter of the Cork
South West Labour TD,
Michael Pat
Murphy,
while studying law in
Earlsfort Terrace.
"Kate was always at me to go in to
visit Leinster House. I told her that I
would go in when I was elected as a
TD! That was the level of my
determination."
John got advice and assistance from
old family contacts such as
John
Clifford,
now a district justice and ,
senior counsel,
Hugh O'Flaherty,
now
a member of the Supreme Court.
O'Flaherty had grown up across the
road from the O'Donoghue home and
O'Donoghue recalls visits to the
house made by his uncle,
Monsignor
O'Flaherty
, who became known
during World War Two as the
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