he life-long GAA supporter also left two of his four “long-term period tickets for Croke Park” to his partner, Dymphna O’Moore, and the other two to his children, Patricia, Anthony and Ronan, “equally for the use of the family business”.
Vincent Brady was born to a young Co Cavan couple before they married and was given up to be fostered. He was unaware he had nine brothers and sisters, who he first met at an emotional reunion when he was 62.
The low-key TD and defence minister was a close ally of controversial taoiseach Charles J Haughey. He was his running mate in Dublin North Central for 17 years, and as chief whip he was a crucial figure in keeping Haughey’s minority government afloat during the turbulent political events of the late 1980s.
Brady owned a swathe of property on Dublin’s northside, as well as a home in Rosslare, Co Wexford. His wealth was mainly accumulated through Liffey Distributors, which has distribution rights for lawnmowers and other gardening machinery, as well as chainsaws and forestry equipment.
According to documents lodged in the Probate Office, Vincent Brady, of The Cloisters, Grace Park Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, and formerly of Seafield Road, Clontarf, who died on October 6, 2020, left estate valued at €31,191,408.
Born on March 14, 1936, he was raised on Tolka Road in Ballybough on Dublin’s northside by Margaret Bourke, a widow from Co Kilkenny, and her two sisters, who fostered children.
Clause 15 of his will states: “In recognition of my foster-parent upbringing I give, devise and bequeath the sum of €10,000 to be divided equally between my foster siblings, Maura Fitzsimons, Patrick McCarthy and Francis McGrath, as a small appreciation for a happy upbringing and kind foster parents.”
Brady was educated at O’Connell’s School and the College of Commerce in Rathmines, studying business and accounting. He left home to work as a manager for Walkers distribution firm in Cork. When it closed in 1969/70, he moved back to Dublin and went into the same business, founding Liffey Distributors.
In his will, he stipulated that his shareholding in Kincora Investment Holdings, now the parent company of Liffey Distributors, was to be divided among his three children, who are also directors of the firm. Anthony got 9,750 shares, while Ronan and his sister Patricia received 7,125 shares each.
He left his family home in Clontarf and its contents to his wife, Mollie (Mary Brady, nee Neville). He also left her properties at Venetian Hall, Howth Road; Beauvale Park, Beaumont; Clanmaurice Road, Donnycarney; Westpark Estate, Artane; and Belmont Square, Raheny for her lifetime, with a stipulation that the properties would pass to various family members on her death.
He left his home in Drumcondra and a property on Bachelors Walk, also Dublin, to his partner, Dymphna O’Moore.
He left a property at Strand Road, Rosslare, and another at Willsborough Industrial Estate in Clonshaugh, Dublin, to his children, Patricia, Anthony and Ronan, in equal shares, and a property at Glasnevin Avenue to them in unequal shares.
He left two further properties at High Park, Dublin 9 — one to his son, Ronan, the other to his partner, Ms O’Moore. His daughter, Patricia, was left a house in Lambourne Village, Clontarf, “for her own use absolutely.”
Apart from the €10,000 for his foster siblings, he bequeathed funds in Bank of Ireland, EBS, AIB, Permanent TSB, Rabo Direct and KBC to be divided equally between his three children and Ms O’Moore, with 5pc set aside for his grandchildren.
Mr Brady also left shares in Permanent TSB and Vodafone to his son, Ronan, his prize bonds to his daughter, Patricia, and he left the remainder in three trust funds established in the names of his three children for their benefit and the benefit of his grandchildren.
He left €5,000 to St Vincent de Paul with an “express wish” that the funds be applied in Marino, “insofar as possible”.
As a young man, Vincent Brady played hurling for St Colmcille’s and was a prime mover in the club’s amalgamation with Whitehall Gaels. From the age of nine he never missed an All-Ireland hurling or football final at Croke Park, and every Sunday afternoon he attended games at Parnell Park.
He was elected to the Dáil as Haughey’s running mate in 1977. His loyalty was rewarded after Haughey was elected taoiseach in 1987, when he was appointed Fianna Fáil chief whip.
Apart from the political dramas unfolding on a daily basis during the Haughey years, he was also at the centre of an emotional family drama.
In 1998, his birth mother, Nellie Gilroy, made contact with him for the first time. His father, Tom, was dead, but he discovered he had nine brothers and sisters — Desmond, Pearse, Paddy, Anne, Eileen, Jackie, Maura, Frances and Mary.
He was one of Haughey’s inner circle who tried in vain to persuade the then taoiseach not to call an election in 1989, after losing a Dáil vote. After Haughey was elected taoiseach of a minority government, and with the tacit support of Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, Brady as government whip and his Fine Gael counterpart Fergus O’Brien decided Dáil business, and for two years “presented a united front”.
Brady also served as a junior minister in the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Defence. In that capacity, he travelled to Syria in 1990, and on his return assured the family of kidnapped Belfast man Brian Keenan that he was alive, and would soon be released, as he was in August 1990.
Brady’s loyalty to Haughey was tested in 1991 after the sacking of Albert Reynolds and Pádraig Flynn from the Cabinet.
In the subsequent reshuffle, Jim McDaid from Donegal and Noel Davern from Tipperary were nominated as their replacements.
Brady was deeply disappointed at being passed over. But the hapless McDaid was forced to turn down the nomination when pictures emerged of him celebrating outside the Four Courts with Maze escaper James Pius Clarke, who had just beaten a British extradition warrant.
Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan called McDaid a “Provo fellow traveller” — a charge he strongly rejected — but it was clear to Haughey that his coalition partners in the Progressive Democrats would not accept McDaid in the Cabinet, especially to such a sensitive post as Defence.
To appease the PDs, Haughey appointed Vincent Brady as Minister for Defence. However, within months and after more controversies, Haughey was forced out — and new Fianna Fáil leader Albert Reynolds fired Brady and other Haugheyites from the Cabinet, in what became known in the annals of the party as “the night of the long knives”.
When the Dáil was dissolved in 1992, neither Haughey nor Brady stood for re-election. Their seats were retained for Fianna Fáil by Seán Haughey and Ivor Callely. The Dublin North-Central constituency was abolished in 2016.
Vincent Brady’s will was dated August 31, 2020 — a little over a month before his death in October of that same year, after a short illness.
