{"id":260217,"date":"2026-01-23T18:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/260217\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:25:10","slug":"tributes-paid-to-former-fianna-fail-mep-brian-crowley-after-death-aged-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/260217\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to former Fianna F\u00e1il MEP Brian Crowley after death aged 61"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tributes have been paid to former Fianna F\u00e1il MEP Brian Crowley following his death at the age of 61.<\/p>\n

Mr Crowley was nominated to the Seanad in 1993, and shortly thereafter topped the poll in the Munster constituency for the European Parliament in 1994 and 1998, as well as the subsequent South constituency in 2004, 2009 and 2014.<\/p>\n

In 2011, he withdrew his hopes to be a potential candidate for the presidential race after determining that he did not have the backing of Fianna F\u00e1il leader Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n

\"BrianBrian Crowley in 2004 (Johnny Green\/PA)<\/p>\n

Mr Crowley, who was paralysed by an accident when he was 16 and used a wheelchair, retired from politics in 2019.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Taoiseach and Fianna F\u00e1il leader Mr Martin paid tribute to a \u201chugely impressive individual\u201d, and said: \u201cIt was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Brian Crowley.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said the former MEP came from \u201ca family steeped in public service\u201d and had a relationship with his voters that gained strength \u201cover his years of dedicated and energetic service\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHis vote was testament to the truly strong bond between him and the people he represented. Without question he was one of the great vote-getters of the modern political era.\u00a0He had no equal.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was also an impactful legislator in the European Parliament and was extremely popular with parliamentarians and officials throughout the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said that Mr Crowley demonstrated \u201cincredible personal resilience and strength of character\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"MichealTaoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said Brian Crowley was \u2018one of the great vote-getters of the modern political era\u2019 (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWith great natural musical ability and a fantastic outgoing personality, he was the life and soul of many Fianna F\u00e1il Ard Fheiseanna and thrilled many on the musical scene in Shanleys in Clonakilty for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian was also a person of deep personal faith, which was profoundly important to him as he struggled with the complications arising from his disability in his later years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian was deeply committed to his community and his country.\u00a0His loss will be felt deeply by his mother Sally, his family, his large circle of friends and all his former colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fine Gael leader and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said he saw the \u201chuge, deep and enduring affection\u201d Mr Crowley\u2019s constituents had for him.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI just want to pay tribute to him. I want to send my sympathies and the sympathies of the Fine Gael party and I know the sympathies of people across the country, to Brian\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\"SimonFine Gael leader Simon Harris was among those paying tribute to the former Fianna F\u00e1il MEP (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s somebody who, despite a sustained period of ill health, served people in this country, particularly people in Cork and in Ireland South, with great affection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I ran in the European elections in 2014, and unsuccessfully ran, I was left in no doubt as I travelled across the vast constituency that is Ireland South of the huge, deep and enduring affection that the people of that constituency had and have for Brian. And I just want to keep him in my thoughts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billy Kelleher, who has been the Fianna Fail MEP for Ireland South since 2019, said his predecessor was \u201can exceptional human being who represented the very best of what it meant to be an Irish person\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kelleher, who was appointed to the Seanad as a nominee of taoiseach Albert Reynolds at the same time as Mr Crowley, said: \u201cPeople, in Munster, and especially in our native Cork, respected, admired and loved him. He also had a very special connection with young people and women.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian was a fierce advocate for people with disabilities. In the European Parliament, he led by example and was always a champion for the rights of people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BillyBilly Kelleher said Brian Crowley \u2018represented the very best of what it meant to be an Irish person\u2019 (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

Mr Kelleher said Mr Crowley had texted him earlier in the week to wish him a happy birthday.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIn his later years, Brian was beset by many health difficulties, which sadly required long periods of hospitalisation. However, he never lost hope, and he never lost his faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite his many health challenges, he was always in touch with his constituents and most recently with me and other Fianna Fail friends and colleagues offering advice and sometimes criticism that was usually warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Kelleher added: \u201cBrian was a proud Irish patriot and a deeply committed European who lived life to the full irrespective of what life threw at him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tributes have been paid to former Fianna F\u00e1il MEP Brian Crowley following his death at the age of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-260217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}