Justices to the fore

ON Thursday night in Newman House in Dublin, it seemed that the entire Law Library had crossed the Liffey for the party to mark…

ON Thursday night in Newman House in Dublin, it seemed that the entire Law Library had crossed the Liffey for the party to mark the publication of Frank Callanan's hiography of T.M. Healy. It was an overwhelmingly male gathering including Justices Hugh O'Flaherty, Tom O'Higgins and Paul Carney, District Court Judge Michael O'Leary as well as Paddy McEntee, Jim O'Driscoll, whose wife Marion was one of the few women in the company. Another notable exception in the male-dominated gathering was Patricia King, who was visiting from her base at Glucksman House in NYU.

Unusually for such a literary and academic gathering, there were two full TV crews downstairs in the grand lobby - one from BBC, the other from ITV. They weren't there to interview the ever-dapper Callanan or capture the jolly legal atmosphere - they were waiting patiently to try to interview John Bruton as he arrived to launch the book.

  • Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date

  • Sign up for push alerts to get the best breaking news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone

  • Listen to In The News podcast daily for a deep dive on the stories that matter