{"id":375711,"date":"2026-04-01T02:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/375711\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:35:09","slug":"rory-ohanlon-former-minister-and-ceann-comhairle-dies-aged-92-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/375711\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory O\u2019Hanlon, former minister and ceann comhairle, dies aged 92 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former ceann comhairle and Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> minister Dr Rory O\u2019Hanlon, who has died aged 92, has been remembered as a \u201cgifted doctor\u201d and \u201ca highly effective public representative\u201d.<\/p>\n

Taoiseach and Fianna F\u00e1il leader Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> made the remarks as he paid tribute to the former Cavan-Monaghan TD adding that O\u2019Hanlon had been \u201cin politics for all the right reasons: a real commitment to public service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rory O\u2019Hanlon was first elected to the D\u00e1il<\/a> as part of the Fianna F\u00e1il landslide in 1977 and was re-elected at every subsequent D\u00e1il election, until his retirement in 2011.<\/p>\n

He was appointed as minister for health in 1987 and minister for the environment in 1991.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hanlon chaired the Fianna F\u00e1il parliamentary party for eight years from 1994 and went on to serve as Ceann Comhairle of the D\u00e1il between 2002 and 2007.<\/p>\n

A family doctor in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan<\/a>, for many years, O\u2019Hanlon is the father of the prominent actor and comedian Ardal O\u2019Hanlon, who starred in the Father Ted television comedy series.<\/p>\n

In his statement Martin said he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d to learn of O\u2019Hanlon\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

He described him as \u201ca gifted doctor, a good listener, a keen observer of people, a caring and empathetic man who sought to improve the lives of his patients and community and a man who was a natural problem-solver\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cFrom his early days in D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann, it was clear that the traits which characterised Rory as an accomplished doctor would also ensure that he was a highly effective public representative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin continued: \u201cRory cared passionately for his community and constituents. He advocated for them. He sought to improve their lives. Rory was a natural public representative.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also described him as \u201ca true republican who cared deeply for his country and worked to ensure the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement\u201d and \u201ca very valued friend\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin said: \u201cI greatly valued his insights and advice, since I was first elected to D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann. He was a wise, astute observer of politics and public affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hanlon, Martin said, \u201chad a wonderful sense of humour and was a great raconteur and a wonderful storyteller.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wore his many responsibilities lightly, always choosing to speak of those he served, rather than himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said O\u2019Hanlon \u201chas left a significant footprint\u201d on Irish public life and Fianna F\u00e1il adding that in his party\u2019s centenary year \u201cwe owe much to those like Rory who served our country and party and who exemplified everything that\u2019s best about public service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin extended his own and Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s \u201cdeepest sympathy\u201d to O\u2019Hanlon\u2019s wife Teresa, their children Fiona, Rory, Ardal, Neale, Shane, and Derbhla, his sister Sr Fionnuala, and the wider O\u2019Hanlon family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former ceann comhairle and Fianna F\u00e1il minister Dr Rory O\u2019Hanlon, who has died aged 92, has been remembered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[121453,15049,895,42,1843,3773,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-375711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ardal-o-hanlon","tag-dail-eireann","tag-fianna-fail","tag-headlines","tag-micheal-martin","tag-monaghan","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375711","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=375711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}