District Court judge 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, Co Tipperary, on Monday.
The judge, who died last week at the age of 65, following a short illness, was a judge of the District Court in her native Co Tipperary, a president of the Association of District Court Judges and the elected representative of the District Court on the board of the Judicial Council.
In her work, Judge MacGrath had been 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.
Judge MacGrath’s husband, Charles Stanley-Smith, in his eulogy, said judges in the District Court “must live in the real world and understand the real pressures that ordinary people live under” and cut through the “bullsh*t” that is often put in front of them.
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“I can testify that Elizabeth put in an extraordinary amount of work into each case before a court sitting”, often bemoaning that “some stupidity in the law, or failure to follow a stupid procedure, meant that justice could not be delivered”.
Mr Stanley-Smith said the judiciary were good at advocating for justice but “hopeless at advocating for themselves” and that in the modern age they needed to get help and be represented in the court of the media.
Too much court time and judges’ time was being wasted through a lack of a proper case management systems, he said. “Bringing the court systems into the 21st century, with proper training for all, will have a major impact on the speed of delivery of justice, giving judges much more time to research and extend their knowledge rather than being petty bureaucrats.”
Mr Stanley-Smith 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.”
Among those at the service was 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.
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