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JULY 1995
The Editor,
The Law Society Gazette,
Law Society,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
Dear Editor,
On behalf of The National Council for the
Blind and The Richmond Brain Research
Foundation. I thank you for your very
generous response to my request for
sponsorship of me to walk 200 kilometres
in aid of these two charities.
I am greatly honoured and humbled by
the truly remarkable response that you
and our colleagues made to my appeal. I
am happy to carry the goodwill and
generosity of the legal profession on the
walk.
I had intended to respond to every person
who contributed individually. Many of
you indicated that an acknowledgement
was not necessary. I think it important
that I do acknowledge in general the very
generous response of you my colleagues
in law. I am sure you would prefer that I
pay the £840.00 that it would cost to send
individual acknowledgements to the two
charities.
I am happy to advise that the total amount
I received in sponsorship is £22,000.00.
With sincere renewed thanks to all of you.
Patrick
O'Connor,
Solicitor,
Swinford.
Desmond Moran K.M., Sol ici tor - An Apprec iat ion
Desmond Moran,
who died on 1
October, 1994, was truly the doyen of
the solicitor's profession in Dublin.
He was admitted as a solicitor in 1931
and practised until the day of his death
in his 86th year. Not merely did he
engage in the practice of law as
Moran & Ryan (Arran Quay) but he
took a keen interest in the
development of law and frequently
made considered submissions on
changes in the law to the Law Reform
Commission, to the Law Society and
(more recently) to the Lord Mayor's
Commission on Crime. His views
tended to be what nowadays would be
viewed as right wing but they sprang
from his personal rock-like sense of
integrity and honour. Colleagues and
clients alike had total trust in his high
standards. A recent example of a
strongly held view was that Desmond
felt that the Criminal Law was overly
protective of a person accused of a
crime and he strongly argued for an
easing of the burden of proof at
present imposed on the prosecution.
As Sheriff for the County of Dublin
from 1951 to 1978 he had the onerous
i. task of running elections in all the
Dublin County constituencies. His
efficiency, his attention to detail, his
strict compliance with statutory
Desmond
Moran
requirements and his impartiality were
admired universally. Another of
Desmond's civic commitments was to
the Defence Forces in which he was a
reserve officer since 1930 and was
also a longstanding member of the
Army Legal Services Club. Desmond
became associated with the Order of
Malta in 1953 and for the rest of his
life served the order with loyalty and
devotion. His service included being
Vice-Director of its ambulance corps
and successively Treasurer and Vice-
President of the Irish Association and
Regent of the Irish Sub-Priory.
To
Madeleine,
his children and
grandchildren must go our sincere
sympathy on their great loss, a loss
perhaps tempered by the knowledge that
he will be remembered with fondness
by all who had the honour to know him.
P.S.
195