This article is from page 10 of the 2014-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE legal community has paid tribute to the late Albert O’Dea who served as District Court Judge in Clare for 17 years.
Judge O’Dea passed away in Galway last week.
He was appointed District Court Judge for Clare in October 1983 and served until his retirement in July 2001.
Ennis District Court paused shortly after 3pm last Wednesday to remember Judge Al O’Dea.
Leading tributes, Judge Patrick Durcan said that while he had not known Judge O’Dea, the retired judge was spoken about affectionately.
The judge said words like kindness, flexibility and courtesy were mentioned frequently about Judge O’Dea in conversations he had last week with legal professionals and members of the judiciary.
He said Judge O’Dea was a man who served the people of the Clare “with a myriad of great qualities”. Judge Durcan expressed his deepest sympathy to Judge O’Dea’s family.
President of the Clare Law Society, William Cahir said Judge O’Dea was a “gracious” man and all members of the legal profession in Clare were sad to learn of his death.
State Solicitor for County Clare, Martin Linnane said Judge O’Dea’s family originally hailed from Carron in North Clare.
He said Judge O’Dea loved Clare and was a “gentleman” to appear before.
“I was very saddened to learn of his death. In my mind he was still a very young man,” added Mr Linnane.
Inspector Tom Kennedy appeared before Judge O’Dea as a guard, sargeant and inspector.
Insp Kennedy said he wanted to extend the sympathies of gardaí and particularly retired members of the force to Judge O’Dea’s family.
“He was very compassionate. There was no doubt about that.
“He had a great temperament,” added Insp Kennedy.
Ennis courthouse manager Josephine Tone said staff always spoke with great warmth and affection about Judge O’Dea.
In a statement, President of the Law Society, Clare solicitor John Shaw, said Judge O’Dea was “the epitome of courtesy and a true gentle person”.