Conal Cochran is the real name of the character known only as "The Old Man" in Robocop. He's the CEO of Omni Consumer Products and that explains where Silver Shamrock got the funding for its massive advertising campaign, not to mention the technical know-how to produce those robot people.
Seriously though, they're played by the same guy (Daniel O'Herlihy), who was actually born and raised in Ireland, so I guess that accent wasn't a fake one. Another funny tidbit, his son was Gavin O'Herlihy, whose most famous roles is probably as the murderous gang leader in the Charles Bronson classic, "Death Wish III"