Tributes paid in Cork court to 'oasis of calm' registrar Shay Bowen

Tributes were paid at the Central Criminal Court to courts service registrar Shay Bowen who died on Friday, as he was described as “an oasis of calm in a sometimes chaotic environment”.

Mr Bowen worked for many years as a registrar at the district court and the circuit court in Cork, was married to retired Garda, Geraldine McCarthy, and had a lifelong association with radio broadcasting, having a regular programme on CUH hospital radio.

Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford said that it was with deep sadness that she learned of the death today of Shay Bowen.

“He would have been known to many of us in the courts. He was a man who had borne his illness very bravely.

“I am sure we will remember him as a man of grace and dignity, a real gentleman. In court he was a dignified presence in what is often a chaotic place.” 

The judge said that not everyone would have known that in his younger life he was an active part of the once thriving pirate radio scene in Cork.

Ms Justice Lankford said that the late Mr Bowen had beautiful Irish and had worked as registrar on many cases that were heard as Gaeilge over the years.

“He was respected and loved by many of us. Ar dheis Dé for raibh a anam,” Judge Lankford said.

Senior counsel, Ray Boland, said on behalf of the Bar: “Shay was a gentleman – an oasis of calm in a sometimes chaotic environment. I was always happy to see him – the man at the desk, courteous to a fault, a great friend of the Bar.”