This article is from page 4 of the 2011-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
NEARLY four years after his untimely death at the age of 53, the High Court has been tasked with clarifying issues relating to the will of Fanore-born philosopher and poet, John O’Donoghue.
O’Donoghue, who lived in Connemara, died suddenly in January 2008 after collapsing while holidaying in France, and left an estate that was valued at more than € 2m.
The former priest made a will in February 2001, just before leaving Ireland for a tour of Australia. That will was made without the benefit of legal advice and was later admitted to probate.
That one-page document was signed by him and witnessed by his mother Josephine and brother Peter but issues have arisen as to what was meant by its terms.
In the will, he stated he was leaving all his worldly possessions to his mother Josephine to be divided equally and fairly among his family with “special care and extra help” to be given to his sister Mary. He also stipulated gifts of money were to be given to a number of other persons.
Josephine O’Donoghue has now brought High Court proceedings seeking clarification of several issues arising from the will and her action opened yesterday before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and continues today.
Among the issues raised by the terms of the will are whether O’Donoghue’s mother herself is a beneficiary and what is meant by the term “family” and whether that means only his mother, two brothers and his sister. Other issues include what is meant by the term “special care and extra help” for the late philosopher’s sister Mary.
The judge has also been asked by Vinog Faughnan SC, for Mrs O’Donoghue, to specify what pow- ers she has in her capacity as legal personal representative of John O’Donoghue.
O’Donoghue’s best known work was ‘Anam Cara’, published on the same day that Princess Diana died in 1997, it had 13 reprints within 12 months. His other published works include ‘Eternal Echoes’, ‘Divine Beauty’, ‘Echoes of Memory’, ‘Conamara Blues’ and ‘Benedictus’.
After his death, new President of Ireland, who was a close friend of Mr O’Donoghue called him “an inspirational figure”, who was “a person of immense courage who gave witness to truth”.