Rory Brady (20 August 1957 – 19 July 2010) was an Irish barrister who served as the

Attorney General of Ireland The Attorney General of Ireland ( ga, An tArd-Aighne) is a constitutional officer who is the legal adviser to the Government and is therefore the chief law officer of the State. The attorney general is not a member of the Government but does pa ...

from 2002 to 2007. He served as a Member of the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

, and was a mediator on the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. He was

visiting fellow In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and was considered a candidate for the Supreme Court of Ireland.

Early life

Brady was born on 20 August 1957. He sat his Leaving Certificate at

Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Can ...

in 1975. He studied law at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

and received a Bachelor of Civil Law Degree in 1978. Brady was a tutor in Business Law in the Faculty of Commerce at University College Dublin.

Career

Brady was

called to the Irish bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

from King's Inns in 1979 and to the

English bar Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

from

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1986. He was made a

senior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in 1996 and was chairman of the

Bar Council of Ireland The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

from October 2000 until June 2002. He held the view that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board was a "fatally flawed project". He was a member of several statutory bodies within Ireland, including the Courts Service Board (October 2000 to June 2002); the

Censorship of Publications Board In Ireland, the state retains laws that allow for censorship, including specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography. In the early years of the state, censorship was widely enfor ...

(which he chaired from December 2001 to June 2002); and the Garda Síochána Complaints Board (from April 2002 to June 2002). After the 2002 general election he was nominated by

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

, to be Attorney General for the Fianna Fáil-led coalition. As such he was plaintiff in the 2005–6 case of Indonesian-born Tristan Dowse, an Irish citizen via an

international adoption International adoption (also referred to as intercountry adoption or transnational adoption) is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple residing in one country becomes the legal and permanent parent(s) of a child who is a national of ...

which had been disrupted. In January 2006, he told the

Health Service Executive The Health Service Executive (HSE) ( ga, Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte) is the publicly funded healthcare system in Ireland, responsible for the provision of health and personal social services. It came into operation on 1 January 2005 ...

to repay €48 million in alleged illegal fees it received from nursing home residents. He was embroiled in the "Mr A" case which unexpectedly overturned the state's age-of-consent law, but an official report blamed a subordinate for not notifying him in advance of the hearing. He resigned as Attorney General in 2007, in what was considered a surprise move, becoming a barrister again, and receiving a golden parachute package of what was reported to be either €87,000 or more than €200,000. Brady was Chairperson of the Irish Takeover Panel from April 2008 until his death. Brady died in July 2010, after two years of illness and was survived by his wife and two daughters. Taoiseach

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1984, for the constituency of Laois–Offaly and served in a ...

called him one of the "finest and most able barristers of his time", while Bertie Ahern said he was "a great Dubliner who had a strong affinity with his native city" and that he was his "closest and most trusted colleague at the cabinet table. He was never anything less than brilliant". Ahern had been assisted by Brady in a defamation case.

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

Charles Flanagan Charlie Flanagan (born 1 November 1956) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency since 2020, and previously from 1987 to 2002, 2007 to 2016 and from 2016 to 2020 for the Laois const ...

stated that Brady had served "with distinction". Hundreds of people, including politicians, attended his removal, while his funeral was also well attended. His interment was in

Mount Jerome Cemetery Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

References

External links

Attorney General profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, Rory 1957 births 2010 deaths Attorneys General of Ireland Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium Place of birth missing People educated at Synge Street CBS Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration 20th-century Irish lawyers Irish judges of international courts and tribunals Alumni of King's Inns Alumni of University College Dublin 21st-century Irish lawyers Lawyers from County Dublin