The Philip Sheedy Affair (1949)

Europe had long established the Legal Aid and Advice Act since 1949, therefore the justice system played fairly to all citizens not just the rich (Byrne, 2015). There was no fear of favouring in her case. She read about the involvement of the commission in a different case and eventually when they reviewed the views of the Irish government they agreed to provide legal aid to pursue her case further (The Irish Times, 2002). A young solicitor, Brendan Walsh, volunteered to deal with her case and Josie suggested that Mary Robinson be her barrister. Ireland as usual seems to be one step behind. The Irish government denied Josie of her equality rights but with her barrister Mary Robinson by her side they forced the Irish government to uphold the

Philip Sheedy was sentenced to jail for four years after pleading guilty for killing a woman while driving while intoxicated (The Irish Times, 2008).Judge Mathews also disqualified him from driving for twelve years (The Irish Times, 1999). After six months of imprisonment in Mountjoy Prison, he was transferred to an open prison, Shelton Abbey (The Irish Times, 2008). Judge Mathews who was asked to step in for Judge Kelly at the time, granted him leave to apply for his case to be reviewed in two years (The Irish Times, 1997). As far as everyone was concerned Philip Sheedy got his four year sentence an dit was to be reviewed in two years. The family of the deceased could begin to rebuild their lives. There are a few different conspiracies that are floating around regarding what happened next. It seems that the former Supreme Court judge Mr O’Flaherty took an interest to Sheedy’s case when he accidentally encountered Sheedy’s sister and boyfriend while he was walking his dog near his home. They happened to be neighbours (Humphreys, 1999). The Sheedy case was brought up and within a month of their conversation, his case was relisted and Sheedy was released after serving only one of the four years (Humphreys,