High profile defence lawyer Patrick MacEntee dies aged 89
High profile criminal lawyer Patrick MacEntee SC, QC, has died aged 89.
One of Ireland's most successful criminal defence lawyers in the State, his past clients included Malcolm MacArthur, Catherine Nevin and those accused of the Sallins train robbery. He also led the commission of investigation into the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings, the largest act of mass murder in the history of the State.
A former Chairman of the Bar Council, the governing body for barristers, his work often led to a refining and reform of the administration of justice in Ireland.
Born in Monaghan, he practised initially on the Northern Circuit, and in the 1970s and 80s was mainly occupied in the Special Criminal Court. In 1976 he attended as an observer for the International Commission of Jurists at a trial of political activists in Namibia, then under South African control. On his return he delivered a scathing report on the trial. A champion of human rights, he was a regular speaker at public meetings of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
He also contributed very significantly to artistic and cultural life, and was a member of the board of the Fondation Irlandaise, the body established by the Irish and French governments to run the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, formerly the Irish College, Paris.
He was a member of the board of Ireland Literature Exchange (now Literature Ireland), chairman of the Irish-language drama company Amharclann De hÍde and a Trustee of the Kavanagh Trust.
