Barry C. Galvin & Son Solicitors » admin

Praise for ‘outstanding service’ of State solicitor for Cork

admin — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 09:16:17 +0000

Warm tributes were paid yesterday to the former Chief Legal Officer of the Criminal Assets Bureau, Barry Galvin who next month retires from public service practice when he steps down following a 30 year career as State Solicitor for Cork city.

Mr Justice Paul Carney, Mr Justice George Bermingham, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley Judge Sean O Donnabhain and Judge David Riordan gathered in Court No 2 at the Washington Street Courthouse with members of the Cork Bar, Southern Law Association, Gardaí and Court Services Staff to pay tribute to Mr Galvin.

Father of the Cork Bar, Don McCarthy BL led the tributes, saying Mr Galvin did his job so well as Cork City State Solicitor that when difficult times arose in the 1990s, he was appointed CAB Chief Legal Officer where he pursued his duties with similar professionalism.

Solicitor, Frank Buttimer said the Southern Law Association was proud of Mr Galvin’s achievements on behalf of both the citizens of Cork and Ireland and defence solicitors always found him to be a man of his word in all their dealings with him when prosecuting cases.

Chief Supt Mick Finn of An Garda Síochána said that Mr Galvin had been a huge assistance to gardaí of all ranks, advising them on legal matters and his knowledge of the law was immense which wasn’t surprising given he had drafted some of the legislation.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said Mr Galvin had given “outstanding service to the state which has been continuous and dedicated” while he also noted Mr Galvin’s willingness to stand his ground with the judiciary and robustly make his point in a professional manner.

Tributes were also paid by Chief Prosecution Solicitor Peter Mullan of the DPP’s office and Mary Crowley on behalf of the Courts Service of Ireland who praised Mr Galvin and his staff for their professionalism and she wished him well in his retirement.

Mr Galvin thanked everyone for their comments and he paid tribute to his staff, in particular Edward O’Hanlon, Carmel O’Sullivan and Eleanor McSweeney while he also thanked his county colleagues, John Brosnan, Malachy Boohig and Frank Nyhan for their help.

He also praised the gardaí, saying his appointment as State Solicitor for Cork coincided with an upsurge in serious drug dealing in Ireland and a concomitant rise in criminality and gardaí in Cork had to adapt but they did so in a way for which the people of the city can be grateful.

See Article here: Irish Times

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‘Gang busting’ Irish solicitor retires from CAB

admin — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 09:08:08 +0000

TRIBUTES have been paid to the gang-busting Irish solicitor who helped set up the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

Gardai, the Irish Bar, the Southern Law Association and victims rights groups paid tribute to Barry Galvin who is retiring as State Solicitor in Cork.

Mr Galvin is best-known for helping draft the legislation that created the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in 1996 following the murder of ‘Sunday Independent’ investigative journalist Veronica Guerin by Dublin crime bosses.

Mr Galvin went on to lead the CAB on an operational and strategic level in its early years as Bureau Legal Officer.

So successful was CAB’s remit and its early operations that it has been adopted as the model for an anti-organised crime agency in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

CAB is credited with having dramatically reduced gangland activity in Ireland for almost a decade.

Since its foundation, CAB has now seized more than €133m in illicit profits from criminal activity.

In 2011/2012, the bureau handed €3.1m to the Exchequer as a result of court proceedings taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act (1996) together with €4m collected in taxes under Revenue legislation.

The CAB is also being used to target social welfare fraud on an organised level.

At one time the threat to senior CAB officials from gangland bosses was deemed to be so great that Mr Galvin had to take firearms training and, for a time, was under round-the-clock armed protection.

The Cork-born solicitor was called to the Irish Bar in 1965.

As a barrister he specialised in corporate, banking, taxation and to a lesser extent criminal defence.

He went on to establish the family firm of Barry C. Galvin & Son Solicitors.

In 1983 he was appointed State Solicitor for Cork and returned to that role having completed his CAB duties.

Mr Galvin’s fame for helping draft such successful anti-organised crime legislation led to him being hired as a consultant by a number of international agencies including the Seychelles Government.

He remains deeply proud of CAB and the role it played in helping Ireland’s fight back against organised crime following the shocking murder of Veronica Guerin.

“After the shooting of Veronica Guerin there was as serious confidence crisis in the justice system and police in Ireland,” he said.

“The Government embarked on a process of taking the money out of crime and drug trafficking and organised crime. It is nabbing the bad guy’s money.”

See article here: Irish Independent

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Moving Forward: Irish Law for the 21st Century

admin — Tue, 04 Dec 2001 05:24:08 +0000

Moving Forward: Irish Law for the 21st Century – University College Cork Student Law Society Conference

Venue: Jury’s Doyle Hotel, Cork – Registration at 8.30. Conference finishes at 4.00 – Cost: €50 (Students: €15)

Speakers include:

The Hon. Ms. Justice Susan Denham: ‘Changes in Irish Law’
Jerry Healy SC: ‘Litigation Culture’
Vincent Power, A&L Goodbody Solicitors: ‘Modern Competition Law’
Charlie Bird, RTE: ‘Law and the Media’
Alpha Connelly, Department of Foreign Affairs: ‘International Law’
Don McAleese, Matheson Ormsby Prentice: ‘The Electronic Commerce Act
Barry Galvin, Criminal Assets Bureau: ‘The Proceeds of Crime Act”

Profiles of Speakers:

Barry Galvin

Barry Galvin was called to the Irish Bar in 1965 having being placed first in the role of honour. As a barrister he specialised in corporate, banking, taxation and to a lesser extent criminal defence. He is also a practising solicitor and partner in family firm of Solicitors, Barry C. Galvin & Son, in Cork

In 1983 Barry was appointed State Solicitor for Cork City. In this job he was responsible for the discharge of all government work arising in Cork City including the prosecution of all serious criminal offences. He has also served as an elected member of the Law Society of Ireland.

In July 1996 he was requested to assist in the drafting and enacting of a legislative anti crime package. This resulted in the creation of an independent multi-agency body called the Criminal Assets Bureau. He assisted in the implementation of the statutory remit of the Bureau and the statutory position of Bureau Legal Officer. Part of his work was to manage all of the litigation undertaken by the Bureau. In addition as part of the senior management of the Bureau he has been involved in all operational and strategic decisions taken.

Dr. Alpha Connelly

Dr. Alpha Connelly lectured in law for many years, first at University College, Cardiff and then at University College Dublin, before assuming the position of Research Counsellor to the Law Reform Commission in the early 1990s.

In 1996, she was appointed Legal Advisor in the Department of Foreign Affairs and, in this role, she heads a small team of lawyers, who provide advice to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Department and the Minister of State in the Department.

She also represents Ireland in many international legal for a and has headed Ireland’s delegations to a number of diplomatic conferences, including the conference held in Rome in 1998 on the establishment of an International Criminal Court. She is an expert in Constitutional Law, Human Rights Law and Public International Law, and has published extensively in these fields.

Vincent Power

Vincent Power is a practicing European Union Law, Competition / Anti-Trust and Transport Law (particularly Shipping Law) at A & L Goodbody. He is the Director of the Firm’ s EU & Competition Law Unit

He is a graduate of University College Cork and the University of Cambridge. A former College Lecturer at University College Cork and lecturer in European Business law at the Smurfit Business School, he is at present visiting Professor of European Union Business Law at The Netherlands Business School at the Universiteit Nyenrode in The Netherlands.

Mr. Power is a member of the Irish Government’s Commission of Inquiry on the Newspaper Industry, Chairman of the Irish Government’s Review Group on the Investigation of Marine Accidents and Director of the Irish Centre for European Law at Trinity College in Dublin.

Jerry Healy SC

Jerry Healy is a member of the Moriarty Tribunal Legal team.

He was educated in University College Cork, King’s Inns and Cambridge University and practiced at the Cork Bar until 1995 when, on taking silk, he moved to Dublin.

Practicing mainly in the areas of personal injury law, commercial law and public law, for the past four years he has been working exclusively with the Moriarty Tribunal.

Mr. Charlie Bird

Charlie Bird has worked with RTE for over twenty five years and has been a news reporter since 1980.He is now Chief News Correspondent with the national broadcaster.

He has covered many of the major national and international news stories in recent times. He travelled throughout Africa, reporting on the famines and crises in Rwanda and Somalia. He was with Nelson Mandela when he cast his vote, in the first post apartheid elections, in South Africa. He also covered the Gulf War conflict in the early 1990’s. Earlier this year Charlie was RTE’s reporter from the tragic scenes at Ground Zero. In the last few years he has taken on the mantle of the country’s leading investigative reporter and has covered all the major tribunals of inquiry.

He was also involved in the longest running libel case in the history of the State against Beverley Cooper Flynn.

In 1998 he was awarded the Journalist of the Year award with colleague George Lee, for their work on the banking scandals.

Justice Susan Denham

Justice Denham was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin and Columbia University, New York. Called to the Bar in 1971, she established a general practice ultimately specializing in judicial review.

In 1987 Mrs. Justice Denham was called to the Inner Bar and in April, 1991 was nominated a High Court Judge. In December, 1992 she became the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. From 1995-1998 Mrs. Justice Denham chaired the Working Group on a Courts Commission established by the government to review the management of the courts.

The Commission published six reports and two working papers, advocating the establishment of an independent Courts Service, the introduction of a Drugs Court into Ireland and addressing the issues of case management and of information and the courts. She chairs the Committee on Court Practice and Procedure and is Honorary Secretary of the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Ethics. She became Pro-Chancellor of Dublin University in 1996 and is a member of the Board of the Courts Service.

Don McAleese

Don McAleese is a Partner and Head of the Information Technology Law Group of Matheson Ormsby Prentice Solicitors, one of Ireland’s leading law firms and recognized specialists in the field of electronic commerce; telecommunications; broadcasting; software copyright; data protection and technology related issues.
He is a member of the European Commission Legal Advisory Board on the Information Market and of the Legal Issues Advisory Group to the Irish Information Society Commission. He is also Chairman of the Legal Subcommittee of the Electronic Commerce Association of Ireland.

Further Information:
lawconference@ireland.com

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