Many tributes paid after sad loss of Grange’s Patsy Barry
MANY tributes have been paid this week to the late Patsy Barry from Grange, who served as a councillor for north Sligo for 17 years.
Patsy, who was 79, passed away at North West Hospice, Sligo, on Wednesday last. He was co-opted as a member of Sligo County Council in June 1997 to replace the late Senator Willie Farrell. He was elected in the local elections in 1999 and was re-elected in each subsequent election until he retired in 2014.
He was elected cathaoirleach of the council in 2005 and also served as chairman of the Strategic Policy Committee on Planning and Development and chairman of the County Sligo Heritage Forum.
Monday’s meeting of Sligo County Council was adjourned as a mark of respect after tributes were paid to him by councillors.
The cathaoirleach of the council, Cllr Dara Mulvey, and the council’s acting chief executive, Tom Kilfeather, paid tribute to Patsy Barry after his death was announced last week.
The cathaoirleach said it was with great sadness that they heard of the passing of their former colleague.
“He was an outstanding public representative who served the people of his area with distinction. He was known far and wide for his friendly nature and generous personality. Patsy was a great ambassador for North Sligo and instigated or supported numerous projects in his area.”
The acting chief executive recalled Patsy’s “pride in his community and county”.
“He was tireless in his ambition to see Co. Sligo grow and develop, and his work ethic was evident in the many committees on which he served, many as chair. His experience and wisdom were invaluable to this council during his time as a cathaoirleach and councillor.” He said that Patsy “will be fondly remembered by elected members and staff, our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Noreen and family”. Fellow Grange man Cllr Donal Gilroy, who has followed in the footsteps of the late Cllr Barry as a Fianna Fáil representative for the area, spoke of the work Patsy Barry had done over the years in many areas in north Sligo.
Cllr Gilroy said if he delivered only half what Cllr Barry delivered, he would be happy. A tribute was also paid by Grange and Armada Development Association.
They said: “Patsy was one of the original founders of Grange and Armada Development going back to the 1980s when the Streedagh divers rediscovered the Armada wrecks site. “Patsy was motivated by his love of heritage and place and in particular his own place, Grange and the North West. He served for many years as chair of the Sligo Heritage Forum. Patsy delighted in place names and their origin and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of local folklore and history. “Patsy will be sadly missed in his community and by his wide circle of friends, but we members of Spanish Armada Ireland will remember his legacy in keeping the Armada story alive and relevant.”
As a mark of respect, the flag at the Spanish Armada Visitor Centre in Grange flew at halfmast on Saturday for Patsy Barry’s funeral.
Patsy Barry was featured last year in the Sligo Weekender’s Local Legends series by Gerry McLaughlin.
That piece recalled how Patsy was born in 1942 in the townland of Rinroe about half a mile from Grange.
Patsy’s father bought a pub in Grange in 1952 and Patsy went into the pub trade at the tender age of 17. That was just a part of his eclectic career until 2002 – a period of 43 years . He was also an auctioneer and farmer. Patsy was involved in the
GAA from a very young age and played for Grange in his youth. He was treasurer of the local club when it bought the field for the present GAA pitch for €3,000 in 1976 and was one of the trustees of the pitch.
But the GAA was just one of many organisations he was involved with down through the years. In sport he was also involved in establishing the local Community Games and as
Gerry McLaughlin remarked, “he was in nearly every organisation going in the Grange area”.
Even before he became a councillor he was involved in helping to improve things in the Grange area.
Apart from his involvement with the local GAA pitch, he was also a a key mover in the buying of the public park as far back as 1960.
Gerry McLaughlin wrote: “There was scarcely a local development in the area that he did not have some interest in, directly or indirectly.”
Patsy was 55 when he was first co-opted on to the county council to replace the late Willie Farrell, so he was able to bring a lifetime’s experience of being a publican, a farmer and an auctioneer to the job.
And he had his own quiet way of getting things done. As he said himself: “I would always rather have had a quiet word with a council official if I wanted to get something done rather than putting on a show for the press.”
The Local Legends feature concluded: “Patsy, always doing something practical for the place that formed him, practical patriotism from a man who could talk the talk, but more importantly he walked the walk.”
His funeral Mass was celebrated at the Church of Mary Immaculate, Grange, on Saturday afternoon, with burial afterwards in Ahamlish Cemetery.
He is survived by his wife Noreen, daughters Helen and Sinead, son Jarlath, grandchildren Ella, Cathal, Edan, Lina, Matthew, James and David, brothers Hubert and Fergus and other extended family and relatives.