Final chapter as father's will honoured
Wednesday February 20 2008
IN the end, Oliver O'Beirne will have his last wishes honoured. Before he died in 1997, the father-of-nine made a will stipulating that his family home should be sold and the proceeds distributed equally to his children.
The labourer went to his grave oblivious to the fact that one of his daughters, Kathy, would pen one of the most sensational and controversial "mis-lit" books of the decade, which claimed that he was a cruel and violent man who subjected his entire family to a life of harrowing physical and mental abuse.
"He appeared to be a highly religious pillar in the community," wrote Kathy O'Beirne in her global bestseller 'Kathy's Story'.
Kathy revealed how she was abused by a priest, raped at 13 and gave birth to a baby girl who was taken away by nuns in a Magdalene laundry.
But the runaway "autobiography" was soon dismissed as a fabrication by O'Beirne's family and religious orders.
The complaints were significant and the then justice minister ordered a garda investigation.
For Oliver O'Beirne's children, the revelations and "slurs" on his character were too much to bear.
And their distress was compounded when a Circuit Court judge, two years ago, granted Kathy a lifetime tenancy in her father's home, after she explained he had made a verbal promise that the house was hers. The property dispute, like Kathy's Story, has torn the O'Beirne family apart.
They appealed the Circuit Court ruling to the High Court. Yesterday, after a marathon rounds of talks, Kathy O'Beirne and her siblings reached a settlement.
But at least Oliver O'Beirne can rest in peace. His home will be sold and the proceeds divided amongst his nine children.
- Dearbhail McDonald
