Dublin solicitor and former legal advisor of Charlie Haughey, Ivor Fitzpatrick, dies aged 68

Fitzpatrick, whose legal business was situated in ivy-clad offices on St Stephen’s Green, worked with some of the country’s best known business figures, including Dermot Desmond, Paddy McKillen, the late Robert ‘Pino’ Harris and Fianna Fáil taoiseach, Charlie Haughey.

He also put together the syndicate of well-known figures who bought the famous Christina O yacht, once the plaything of Aristotle Onasis and his famous friends.

He is survived by his wife Susan (Stapleton), who was a founder of the law firm which became probably the best-known legal practice in the country. His wealth from his business activities was estimated at between €50-€100 million.

The media-shy solicitor was known for a flamboyant personal life which included being helicoptered to work in Dublin, mixing with the business and political elites and hosting extravagant shooting parties at his Avoca castle and estate, which was originally built by a son of the Earl of Wicklow.

He also hosted a famous party in his offices at Christmas time, which was attended by judges, solicitor, barristers, and other legal luminaries.

He died from a “difficult illness, bravely borne” on Sunday last. He was also a noted dog-lover, who once hosted a lavish funeral for one of his pets, and his “loyal canine companion Coco Bean” is mentioned in the death notice.

As well as his lucrative business activities he was appointed a director of Aer Lingus by his friend Charlie Haughey, who it was said he counselled for free when he became embroiled in the Moriarty Tribunal.

Although he was regarded as very secretive, he fell out with his one-time business partner, Paddy McKillen Snr. But an expected court case which threatened to reveal much of the way they conducted business, which included property development and a quarrying business in Vietnam, did not materialise.

Under a separation agreement, their company Canton Casey’s Ltd – the name of a pub in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath - would be split, with Fitzpatrick getting a €10 million pay-off and McKillen retaining assets in South Anne Street in central Dublin and a Vietnamese quarrying business.

Fitzpatrick also fell out with the flamboyant Donegal art-collector Pat Doherty, and Andrew Parker-Bowles, first husband of Queen Camilla of England, over a property development with their company, Harcourt Developments on the tax-haven island of Jersey. This was eventually settled after a three-week hearing. A spokesman for Harcourt said at the time: “Mr Fitzpatrick requested a confidentiality clause and we respected that.”

He also came to international prominence with the release of the Panama Papers, which revealed details of how Mr Fitzpatrick put together the syndicate of prominent and mostly Irish businessmen who bought the Christina O yacht, with the help of a €2 million loan from Michael Fingleton’s Irish Nationwide Building society.

Because of a tax loophole some members of syndicate were then able to write off more than €25 million in losses incurred in refurbishing the ship. It later hosted the reputed €1.5 million lavish wedding of the developer Sean Dunne and his gossip-columnist wife Gayle Killilea, at the height of the Celtic Tiger.

Mr Fitzpatrick’s Dublin-based company Sandyway Investments financed the purchase of the yacht, which was then syndicated to a group of Irish businessmen. One of them, the late trucking multi-millionaire ‘Pino’ Harris, wrote off €9.1million in tax for his share of the refurbishment costs. This was challenged by the Revenue Commissioners, who lost the case at the Appeals Commission.

Among the yacht’s guests over the years were Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Richard Burton.

“I don’t think there is a man or woman on this earth who would not be seduced by the pure narcissism shamelessly flaunted on this boat” Burton is said to have told Onassis.

Fitzpatrick was said to be one of the most brilliant lawyers of his generation and despite huge legal fees was much sought after by the business community and finances houses. He had over 40 years’ experience in commercial, banking and corporate law and was the managing partner of the firm he and his wife founded.

According to its website, “he has advised a broad range of clients in public, private and non-profit sectors…offering clients strategic and innovative solutions to achieve outcomes in their best interest”.

Mr Fitzpatrick’s law firm has continued in his absence, but it was known in legal circles that he had been ill for some time. There will be a requiem service for Mr Fitzpatrick on Thursday next at the Church of St Mary and Patrick, Avoca, Co. Wicklow.