Patrick James Connolly (25 May 1927 – 7 January 2016)^[1] was an Irish barrister who served as Attorney General of Ireland from March 1982 to August 1982.^[2]

Connolly was born on 25 May 1927, the elder of the two sons of a headmaster and a teacher in Fingal, in Dublin. He was educated at St Joseph's College, University College Dublin and the King's Inns, after which he was called to the Bar in 1949. His practice, which focused on personal injury cases, was widely successful. On 9 March 1982, Taoiseach Charles Haughey named him as Attorney General of Ireland.^[3]

Connolly resigned on 17 August 1982 after Malcolm MacArthur, who had been a house-guest of Connolly's, was arrested for murder.^[4][5] MacArthur, the domestic partner of Connolly's friend Brenda Little, had committed a horrific double murder in the midst of a botched carjacking and robbery in 1982. Though Connolly was not implicated in the murder or in knowingly harbouring the assassin, he was forced to resign at midnight the night of MacArthur's arrest and never again served in government.

Connolly returned to practice at the Irish bar and to work as a senior counsel in Dublin. Connolly died aged 88 on 7 January 2016. Though he never married, he had a very close relationship with his extended family, including his nephew and two nieces who spoke at his funeral Mass. He was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.^[6]

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