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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
November 2014 37
GERALD KEAN POLITICS
significant riches.
After a heated emergency gen-
eral meeting on 6th November of
the volunteers who run the Cork
Penny Dinners, a charity set up
by concerned Catholic, Church of
Ireland and Quaker religionists in
the late 19th Century, the absent
Kean was among a new board of
trustees appointed “as part of a
major restructuring of the char-
ity” according to a report in the
Irish Examiner. He is joined by new
chairman and businessman, Jim
Urquhart, who defended the exclu-
sion of a number of people from
the EGM at the charity’s somewhat
dilapidated premises and kitchen at
Little Hanover Street in
the city. There has been
an angry and vocal reac-
tion from some former
volunteers who claim
that those who man-
aged to get in were not
allowed by Urquhart
to ask questions or to
query the credentials
of many of those present
and permitted to vote
for the new board.
Among those who was
permitted to attend and
the only one allowed to
make a speech was solic-
itor Martin Archer who
castigated efforts by a group
of people who, he claimed, had
made an attempt to establish a
new governing board without
notifying members as required
under the code of governance of the charity.
He also cited other alleged breaches of the
code before promptly resigning his position
as legal advisor to the Penny Dinners.
What is at stake here is not just the rep-
utation of one of Cork’s most popular
charities which feeds the needy, down and
out and impoverished of the city with the
help of generous retailers and volunteers
but the estimated €1.5 million held in its
various accounts. According to Urquhart,
the finances of the charity are “absolutely
F
RESH from his latest, and unfortu-
nate, altercation with the Law Society
celebrity solicitor, Gerald Kean, has
landed himself in the thick of it again. No
doubt motivated by the best of intentions,
Kean has joined the trustees of soup kitchen,
the Cork ‘Penny Dinners’, where his friend
Caitriona Twomey has ruled the roost over
many years. Kean of course has been asso-
ciated with many charities over the years
and, when he is not promoting himself, his
bejewelled partner, and his lavish Wicklow
mansion on the pages of the Sindo, he has
managed to maintain a lucrative practice
from his offices on Upper Pembroke Street
in Dublin.
In September, the High Court dismissed
an appeal against a finding of profes-
sional misconduct arising out
of Kean’s handling of a former
client’s case. Justice Nicholas
Kearns upheld a finding of pro-
fessional misconduct made
by a Solicitors Disciplinary
Tribunal (SDT) against the solic-
itor over his handling of a case
brought by Christopher O’Neill.
Fortunately for Kean, the court
said it would not impose a fine of
€20,000 for misconduct which
had been recommended by the
SDT.
Kean was also for some years
during the lengthy and brutal
Pinochet regime the honorary
consul for Chile in Ireland even
though, according to himself,
he never once visited the Latin
American dictatorship. When
the reviled general was arrested
in England in 1998 in connec-
tion with a Spanish-led investigation into
human rights abuses, some of his advisors
called on Kean to help. Sure enough, the
solicitor kindly introduced a delegation of
Chileans to the then foreign minister, David
Andrews, who did not look kindly on their
request for assistance for the embattled
Pinochet, or his possible refuge in Ireland.
The dictator remains subject to a global
investigation into his vast hidden assets,
led by the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon
which has apparently failed to uncover any
sound” and a Garda investigation had found
“nothing wrong” with their administration.
This inquiry followed complaints by volun-
teers some time ago over the handling of the
Christmas collection, among other matters,
leading to a number of recommendations as
to appropriate business practice.
Following the departure of Archer, and
those of other long-standing trustees, the
incoming board appointed South Mall
solicitor, David Donegan, (who is listed
with Urquhart on the board of Cork -based
company, Family Business Ireland) to keep
a legal eye on the affairs of the charity. No
doubt he can call on Gerald Kean to help him
if the financial waters prove too choppy in
the future. •
Celebrity comes to Cork’s penny Dinners.
By Frank Connolly
In the soup
The finances
of the charity
are “absolutely
sound” and
a Garda
investigation
had found
“nothing
wrong”
with their
administration
“
charitably Kean
