Tributes to high-profile barrister who dies at 46

EAMON LEAHY, one of the state’s most high-profile barristers, the husband of government chief whip Mary Hanafin and tipped to be a future Attorney General, was yesterday described as one of the finest minds of his generation following his death at the age of 46.

Mr Leahy was found dead in his bed in a hotel room in Donegal, where he was appearing before the Morris Tribunal as a senior counsel for the garda commissioner. He died of a suspected heart attack.

The chief whip was told of his death en route to a conference in Peru. Ms Hanafin returned home yesterday afternoon as the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern led tributes to a “man of great public spirit who took an active interest in the welfare of his community. On a human level, Eamon’s great humour, his compassion and his innate decency endeared him to all of us who came into contact with him. My own thoughts are very particularly with Mary, for whom I know Eamon was more than a loving husband; he was her constant confidante and closest friend.”