Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 1 Dec 1999

Vol. 512 No. 1

Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy.

The Taoiseach

Deputies will be sad to have learned in recent days of the death of Joe Farrell, a former Member of this House. May he rest in peace.

Joe had a distinguished political career during which he served in both Houses of the Oireachtas for 20 years. He first served as a Senator from 1961 to 1973 and during those 12 years he was a member of the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges. He was elected to the Dáil where he served until 1981 and held the distinguished honour of being the oldest Member of the 21st Dáil.

Joe was a member of Louth County Council and Dundalk Urban District Council, on which he served as chairman for three terms. He also served as a member of the Louth county committee of agriculture, in which he displayed great interest, and the Eastern Regional Tourism Organisation. He served as chairman of the North Eastern Health Board on many occasions including 1991, the year of his retirement from the board. He gave long and distinguished service to many committees, boards and organisations and served as chairman of Dundalk Harbour Board from 1970 to 1973. He had particular interest and expertise in that area.

Joe was regarded as a chairman of great ability, a fact which is highlighted by his election to many such positions throughout his career. He was considered to be astute and to possess an enormous capacity to assess a situation to ensure that justice and fair play prevailed. His great courtesy and personal qualities earned him respect from Members on all sides of the House. Long after his retirement, he continued to attend various social and political functions. He particularly liked to attend functions where issues of parliamentary democracy were discussed in order to maintain the contacts he made during his career.

Joe was born in Dundalk in July 1905 and educated at St. Malachy's school. On the Government's behalf I wish to offer our deepest condolences to his wife, Margaret, and his extended family. We thank them for his long life of service to our party and his enormous interest in its affairs, in all things political and in the affairs of his native county.

Mr. J. Bruton

Having served in the House with the late Joe Farrell, I wish to express sympathy to the Fianna Fáil Party's organisation in County Louth for the loss it has suffered.

Joe Farrell was a man of great personal courtesy and deep personal convictions. He had strong family connections in south Armagh and held deep feelings about partition and a number of the divisive issues that caused so much hurt in this country in the early part of the century. However, he did not allow his strong convictions to interfere with his personal relationships with those who held different beliefs.

Joe displayed the qualities of courtesy and kindness in both his general demeanour and in his contributions in the House. As the Taoiseach stated, he carried those qualities into his work for the North Eastern Health Board which, in addition to Louth, covers Meath, Monaghan and Cavan. He served as chairman of the board at a comparatively advanced age which is a tribute to his great abilities. His wife, Margaret Taaffe, to whom I express my deep sympathy, hailed from Mornington, County Meath, and he also had family connections in my part of the country. He was a man of very deep political conviction and his loyalty to the Fianna Fáil Party was not ever in question. He was very closely associated, as the House will be aware, with the late Frank Aiken.

It would probably be considered that there were few closer political relationships in the Oireachtas or in politics than that between the late Joe Farrell and the late Frank Aiken. They worked together throughout their political careers and Joe Farrell was to some degree perhaps in the shadow of Frank Aiken but he did not let that diminish his own self-esteem or beliefs. On behalf of the Fine Gael Party and the Members who served with Joe Farrell, I express my sympathy to Margaret and the family on the loss that they have suffered.

Mr. Quinn

I recall serving with the late Deputy Joe Farrell during his second term in the House, along with many other Members, including the Taoiseach, who were elected in 1977. As Deputy Bruton said, for many years he was the late Deputy Frank Aiken's right hand man in north Louth, as the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Ahern, will testify. Frank Aiken enjoyed the comfort of being able to live in Sandyford, Dublin, for most of his adult political life and not be burdened with having to visit the Louth constituency because it was so well minded by Deputy Joe Farrell for such a long time.

I know this because my mother is a Dundalk woman and he knew her and her extended family well. His connection with Frank Aiken led to contact and friendship with my father. My uncle, Séan Quinn, succeeded Frank Aiken as OC of the 4th Northern Division when he became Chief of Staff of the IRA. Following the end of the Civil War and the attempts to build the process which we have now successfully arrived at, there were many social occasions in Dundalk in which my father and Joe Farrell were involved which were related to the old IRA.

It was against that background when I entered the House that Joe Farrell displayed courtesies, pleasantries and friendship to me while having diametrically opposed political views. As previous speakers said, he was a courteous gentleman. He arrived late to this House but gave a long and loyal service to his party, his senior constituency colleague, the county council and various other bodies. On behalf of the Labour Party, I extend my sympathy to his wife and family.

Mr. Sargent

Cé nach raibh aithne phearsanta agam ar Joe Farrell is mian liom, thar cheann an Chomhaontais Ghlais, comhbhrón a dhéanamh lena bhean chéile agus lena mhuintir ar fad. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

I too offer my condolences to Joe Farrell's wife, Margaret. As previous speakers said, his loss is immense to Louth and the Fianna Fáil Party. Deputy Quinn's remarks were absolutely correct. He looked after the constituency for Frank Aiken for many years to such an extent that Frank Aiken had to visit the constituency only once a month on a Sunday morning to attend two meetings, one in Cooley and one in Dundalk, a tradition that has continued to this day.

Mr. J. Bruton

Things have been going downhill ever since.

Mr. Belton

At what times were the meetings?

Mr. D. Ahern

I am not sure whether I would get away with visiting the constituency once a month. From the day I entered politics 20 years ago, Joe Farrell was an incredible mentor and adviser to me and I will be forever grateful. Even up to his last few years, he regularly attended Fianna Fáil meetings in Louth. When meetings got hot, Joe Farrell was always one to cut the argument dead with a few words and he was always sensible, even though he was in his nineties. He died this day last week at the ripe old age of 94 and in these days of eternal cynicism towards people in public life he was an example to all of us in that he dedicated his life to public service. I wish ‘Baby' Margaret, as she is known, all the best for the future.

Mr. Kirk

I thank you for the opportunity, a Cheann Comhairle, to join with the Taoiseach, party leaders and my constituency colleague, Deputy Ahern, in this expression of sympathy to Joe Farrell's widow, Margaret, brother, sister and his extended family in County Louth and further afield. In many ways the remarks of previous speakers encapsulated Joe Farrell's life. He was blessed with longevity, which is indeed a feature of political life in Louth, and died at the age of 94. He was heavily involved in politics in County Louth as a member of various local authorities, including Dundalk UDC and Louth County Council, and for a long period he served as chairman of the North Eastern Health Board. He served in the Seanad before he entered the Dáil in 1973, as successor to Frank Aiken. Deputy Quinn's comment that he was a close political friend of Frank Aiken is true.

Joe Farrell was very much involved in the formative years of the State and with the passage of time he became a very significant figure in County Louth. He will be a great loss to us at party level in the constituency because he had great organisational sense. As the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs said, monthly meetings on a Sunday morning are still a feature. Perhaps other aspects of the political culture have changed since the days of Frank Aiken and Joe Farrell but that is progression in the political arena.

Members rose.