Phelim's long time colleague and friend in the Department of Finance, Stephen O'Neill, summed him up in his condolence message on RIP.ie
Phelim was a wonderful friend and colleague. He will be remembered with affection by all who knew him in the Department of Finance.I didn't know Phelim well, hardly at all in fact, in my own years in the Department of Finance, that is until he was nominated to the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.
I had been involved in the negotiations setting up the bank in 1990/91 and then served a year on the Board as Irish Alternate Director.
I was resident in Dublin with the day job and travelled to London for Board meetings. This was a most unsatisfactory situation and my Danish Director was not getting the support he needed or deserved. There was a need to appoint a resident Alternate in London, and Phelim got the job.
So he became my successor, residing in London for the next two years, and I was his desk officer in Dublin.
As a desk officer you learn a lot about the abilities and character of those you are looking after and I've experienced the whole spectrum.
From my point of view, Phelim was ideal. We worked as a team and he well understood both the Department of Finance and the Irish national interest. We never had a bit of trouble this end and Phelim was both trusted and respected by the Board. He worked well with the Director of our constituency, Lars Tybjerg, and between them they built up a lot of political capital on the Board.
When Phelim returned to the Department he became my boss, and a better boss you could not ask for. He did not interfere but was always there with good solid advice when you had a problem. And above all, he was very fair.
I was saddened today to hear of his death and will always cherish his memory.
May he rest in peace.
Phelim's death notice on RIP.ie
There was a beautiful funeral mass/ceremony this morning (30/12/22) in Booterstown church. The music was perfectly chosen and performed. Phelim's daughter, Deirdre, gave a wonderful and balanced eulogy.
The recording is likely to be available here for about the next month at least; the eulogy is at 1hour,3minutes,30seconds in.
I remember one occasion when I could see that Phelim seriously disapproved of what I was doing.
ReplyDeleteIt was the 1993 EBRD AGM, two years after the Bank’s establishment and Jacques Attali’s assumption of the role of President. Attali, the ideal man to negotiate and set up the Bank, was far from the ideal man to run it, particularly when its headquarters were in the heart of London rather than his more familiar Paris.
Attali made a series of public errors which were picked up by the Financial Times in particular and which were undermining the Bank’s reputation. The EC Governors held a caucus meeting to discuss how to deal with the situation. Bertie Ahern was Ireland’s Governor but he had not yet arrived in London at the time of the meeting so I stood in for him.
A press release was being drafted which was very critical of Attali, but it implied that the Governors were aware of his flaws from before he was elected President. I intervened to warn them to be very careful because if this was the case then they were as much at fault as Attali for having appointed him.
Phelim was present at the meeting, as a Board member, but not as a participant. I could see from his face that he was shocked at my intervention and most certainly did not approve.
Here I was, a civil servant from a small member state, lecturing finance ministers. Not kosher in Phelim's book.
Maybe he was right but it did not affect our good relationship afterwards. Full marks to the man.