More tributes paid to the late Jack Roche, an ‘advocate’ for rural Ireland
MORE tributes were paid to the late Jack Roche at last Monday’s Northern Committee meeting by a number of councillors who worked closely with the Rockchapel man, who was renowned for his tireless work in the local community.
The warm tributes to Mr Roche were led by Fianna Fáil councillor Bernard Moynihan, who praised him for his vast contribution to the Duhallow region.
“A lot of the things happening now in rural Ireland, Jack was talking about them 20 years ago,” he said. “He had a huge contribution to IRD Duhallow, the Leader programme and Comhaltas.”
“His contribution to Duhallow and the people of Duhallow was remarkable,” said Fianna Fáil councillor Ian Doyle. “I got to know Jack through the involvement in development groups such as the IRD Duhallow.”
Fine Gael councillor Gerard Murphy said the late Mr Roche was an ‘honourable’ man: “Jack served in Cork County Council for a considerable number of years. He served with me for a long time. He was leader of the Fianna Fáil party in this chamber, and I happened to be leader of the Fine Gael party at the time.
“We worked extremely well together. He was an extremely honourable man. If he gave you his word on an issue, you could be guaranteed that Jack would honour that. He is going to be a huge loss to his community for the huge amount of work he had done over the years,” he added.
The Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Frank O’Flynn, said he was an advocate for rural Ireland: “I knew Jack Roche for many years. He was an advocate for rural Ireland. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí was his biggest love. Jack was very passionate about rural Ireland.
“He is a major loss.”