TADHG PHILPOTT: TADHG PHILPOTT, who has died aged 87, was a prominent trade union official and a former Labour councillor of Cork Corporation, but will best be remembered as the man who taught children from deprived parts of the city to swim.
Passionate about the health and fitness aspects of the sport, he swam all year round and was competing in swimming galas well into his 80s. When not involved in union negotiations or Labour Party business, his energy and enthusiasm were channelled into sport, including golf and pitch and putt, but mainly swimming.
The most senior member of the Cork Master Swimming Club, he competed in events in Toronto, Rome, England and Wales. He was also president of the Cork Lifesaving Club and held the distinction award in practical lifesaving.
Thanks to his voluntary input, hundreds if not thousands of children learned to swim, including children from deprived parts of the city. In his free time, he also taught the handicapped at the Lota Centre to swim.
On his 80th birthday, he dived into the pool with a group of young swimmers who presented him with a birthday cake in the water. Even in the coldest winter, he swam in the river Lee.
He and his son Ger made swimming history when they each won a gold medal in separate events at the 1987 World Master Games in Rome. A former Labour Party member of Cork Corporation, Tadhg was a doyen of the trade union movement. Having joined the old Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) in 1949, he became a full-time official 10 years later and played a key role after its amalgamation with the Federated Workers Union of Ireland as Siptu.
He held the distinction of twice being president of the Cork Council of Trade Unions, first as a representative of the ITGWU and later of Siptu. He knew the importance of selling the public a far wider image of trade unions.
He had little formal education, leaving primary school to become a messenger boy for the family’s greengrocer shop. However, as a mature student he achieved a diploma in social studies at UCC.
Predeceased by his wife Mary, he is survived by his daughter Joan, sons Barry, Ted, Ger and Pat, brother, Mick and sister Mary.
Tadhg Philpott: born March 8th, ,1923; died February 4th , 2011