A final thank you to the people of Dundalk
BRENDAN McGahon, who was elected by the voters of Louth to the Dail for 20 years and who died last week aged 81, said there was ‘no greater honour in this life than to represent the people of this constituency’, his funeral Mass heard on Saturday.
A moving eulogy about the controversial politician was given by his son, Conor, who said his father had given ‘a heartfelt instruction to say thank you to the people’ as he sat with him in hospital during Brendan’s final weeks, ‘watching his life, once so potent, ebbing away from him’.
Conor said: ‘His instruction was simple and it’s a testament to the unassuming character of a man I’m proud to call my father.
‘As you are no doubt aware, his illness was where he showed great courage and stoicism.
‘I had the privilege as his son to witness how he held himself to account for the life he had led and for the good, if any, he had brought to bear on that life.
‘It was a profoundly and deeply human experience. Our father believed that public service is an honour that carried the enduring responsibility to the people he served.
‘It was deeply ingrained in him that he owed a debt to the people of Louth for bestowing the privilege on him. It remained with him in the quiet years of his retirement.
‘Brendan McGahon believed that there was no higher honour on earth than to represent the people of County Louth in the sovereign parliament of the country. I am here, at his request, to offer his final thanks’.
Earlier, chief celebrant Fr Sean McArdle, PP, Louth Village, said that people would ‘remember the good Brendan did, that he was privileges to serve the people of Dundalk and the wider community as a councillor and a TD’.
Fr McArdle, who was assisted in the funeral Mass by his Marist colleague Fr Kevin Cooney, said: ‘He loved Dundalk - and it was put beautifully to me the other day - he loved the streets of Dundalk.
‘He was a good friend to many. The last months were difficult, I know, but he faced his illness with extraordinary courage’. Brendan is a former student at St Mary’s College, Dundalk.
A large number of politicians, friends and former colleagues attended the Mass, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny represented by his aide-de-camp Lieutenant Colonel Ciaran Carey, along with foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan, former Labour leader Ruairi Quinn, a cousin of Brendan’s; TDs Bernard Durkin, Alan Farrell, Peter Fitzpatrick, Fergus O’Dowd, Declan Breathnach; MEP Mairead McGuinness; former TDs Seamus Kirk and Charlie McCreevey and former MEP Avril Doyle; former senators Terry Brennan and Jim D’Arcy.
Fine Gael councillors from Louth and further afield also attended, along with former colleagues from Louth County Council.
Burial took place at St Patrick’s Cemetery, Dowdallshill.