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.
[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.
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.