Joe Barnes, who has died aged 63, was an accomplished and highly popular barrister in the midlands and west who was known for his insight, erudition, wit and generosity.
He participated in several high-profile criminal trials after he was called to the Bar in 1992, and his death elicited expressions of shock and affection from members of the judiciary and legal colleagues on the Midlands and Northern Circuit Court.
A minute’s silence was held for him in the High Court.
Joe was one of a family of five from Stepaside, Co Dublin, and his father Eamonn Barnes was the State’s first Director of Public Prosecutions.
READ MORE
He attended school at St Conleth’s College on Clyde Road and studied history at University College Dublin.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton recalled on rip.ie how Joe “devilled” for him when he first came to the Bar.
“He was a most engaging young man, with a ready wit and a sense of genuine fun about him,” he said.
“His career progressed well and, a fine advocate, he appeared in many cases and also had a leading role in the disclosures tribunal where his approach to cases was typified by his concision ... and the politeness with which he addressed witnesses,” he said.
The judge said that such was his skill in photography that a beautiful shot of the Charleton daughters had “pride of place at home”.
At Circuit Court sittings in the west and northwest, colleagues paid warm tributes to his professionalism and kindness, and how he was, in the words of State prosecutor Edmund Sweetman, a man who “understood the issues and demons some of his clients might have had”.
Barrister Colm Smyth SC said his death was “akin to losing a member of the family”.
His daughter, Rebecca, who followed him into the legal profession, recalled at his funeral that he was an avid historian and quoted from the Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh in describing how he “lived his life with all the joys allotted to man”.
Her father had an “exceptional talent for making friends”, she said – among the many being the late Garech de Brún, who sought his advice when Joe was still at King’s Inns over plans to build an interpretative centre at Luggala, Co Wicklow.
The centre was never built, the pair became firm friends, and Joe “entered the enchanted world of Luggala and partied with actors like John Hurt, poets like John Montague and rock’n’roll legends like the Rolling Stones”, recalled Rebecca.
A man with unshakeable principles, he was a “voice of reason and conscience”, she said.
When he settled in Co Leitrim, he spent time on the Shannon, enjoyed photography and hosted legendary dinners. One of his favourite rituals was delivering flowers at Christmas to “all of the important women in his life”, said Rebecca. There were 18 names on the list.
One year, when there was a shortage of birds of paradise, the call went through the flower market to source some “birds for Joe”, she said, and so all had birds of paradise for Christmas.
Joe Barnes is survived by his daughter Rebecca, her mother Eileen Heron, siblings Paul, John, Mary Jane, Ruth and extended family.
