Frank Taaffe returns to Athy court

ATHY District Court offered a rare warm round of applause for one of the town’s legal stalwarts when Frank Taaffe made a welcome return to the fray after months of absence due to his cancer battle.

“I see a stranger here before me!” smiled Judge Desmond Zaidan at the 83-year-old practitioner, who even had a ‘Reserved’ sign taped to his usual spot in case any of the whippersnappers had the temerity to take it.

“Did you see the note we left for you? You look so much better,” said the judge.

Mr Taaffe was in court ostensibly to argue a drink-driving offence that James Kirrane (26) from Milltown, Tuam, Co Galway had allegedly committed on 30 April at Tomard, Athy, and he even arrived in court with a hefty legal tome on the very subject. 

However, with the way the list had gone, and the number of custody priorities to be heard, the judge reluctantly had to adjourn Mr Taaffe’s potentially triumphant return as there was not enough time to hear a fully contested case before the close of business.

“People thought I’d died three months ago,” said Mr Taaffe. “The radiotherapy didn’t work, I was too old for chemo, so the doctors recommended immunotherapy, which made me very sick.

“At one stage, the doctor gave me three weeks, and at 83 I accepted that,” he recalled.

 “But I just got better, and now I’m damned if I’m going to give up,” he said, quite ebulliently.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” said the DPP for South Kildare, Cairbre Finan.

“It’s an honour to have you back,” said the judge, as those left in the courthouse broke out in a spontaneous round of applause.

Judge Zaidan then asked his registrar when would be an appropriate date to successfully hear a case of this length, and after consulting her diary she suggested 14 April.

“And if I’m not alive by then, you can dismiss the case!” offered the incorrigible octogenarian.