Tipperary pays respect to District Court Judge Elizabeth MacGrath

Her sister Sharon Kennedy is the Council's serving Director of Planning and Development, Fire and Emergency Planning, Civil Defence, Local authority Services National Training Group Office and Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District.

Cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council, Declan Burgess, proposed the five minute adjournment at the start of the Council meeting at the local authority's Civic Offices in Nenagh and also proposed the passing of the vote of sympathy.

“We extend our deepest sympathy to her husband Charles and entire family on the sad passing of Judge MacGrath,” the Cathaoirleach said.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee paid tribute to Judge MacGrath, saying that she had given dedicated service to the State since first being appointed to the bench in 2007. “I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to her husband, family and friends on their loss,” the Minister said.

Before being appointed to the bench, Judge MacGrath had worked for 24 years as a solicitor. As a District Court judge, she had been assigned to District Number 8, which covers her home county of Tipperary, since 2012, where she heard mostly criminal matters, but also presided over family-law cases.

She was President of the Association of District Court Judges and the elected representative of the District Court on the board of the Judicial Council.

Elizabeth MacGrath was a woman of “profound integrity” who had a “passion for justice”, the chief celebrant, Fr Pat Gilbert, told her funeral Mass in Nenagh on Monday.

She was a “beacon of fairness and a pillar of strength” in the community, Fr Gilbert told a congregation that included senior members of the judiciary including her brother, Mr Justice Michael McGrath of the Court of Appeal, the Irish Times reported.

Judge MacGrath’s other brother, Joe MacGrath, was the first Chief Executive of Tipperary County Council after the amalgamation of North and South Tipperary Councils in 2011.

Judge MacGrath’s husband, Charles Stanley-Smith, who is former head of An Taisce, gave a moving eulogy and was joined by a young boy, Nicholas Ignatenko, a member of a Ukrainian family who has been living with him and his wife for the last two years. Judge MacGrath was looking down from Heaven and would help us, Nicholas said in a short address. “She was a great person.”

The ceremony was also attended by the President of the Court of Appeal, George Birmingham; the President of the High Court, David Barniville; the President of the Circuit Court, Patricia Ryan; and the President of the District Court, Paul Kelly.

Those present also included Mr Justice Peter Charleton and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan of the Supreme Court, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, Mr Justice Charles Meehan, and Mr Justice Donald Binchy, of the Court of Appeal, and Judge Joanne Carroll and Judge Tom O’Donnell (retired) of the District Court.

Judge MacGrath is survived by her husband, siblings, in-laws and wider family. She was predeceased by her parents, Justice Michael MacGrath and Thérèse.