Mr Billy Burke, the cystic fibrosis victim who campaigned for four years for a lung transplant, has died in a Dublin hospital. Mr Burke, an accountant from Killorglin, Co Kerry, had made several appeals for "a chance to live".
Mr Burke (29), said he was not afraid to die, but did not wish to die without the chance of life a double lung transplant might have given him.
Mr Burke had received conflicting opinions from lung transplant hospitals in England.
Late last year, he was taken off the transplant list at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle in the north of England, on medical grounds, after being on the list for 2½ years. But he was accepted on to the waiting list by a Manchester hospital.
The Newcastle hospital had first call on Irish donor lungs under an arrangement with the Department of Health in the absence of a lung transplant unit in the Republic at that time. Under that arrangement, the Newcastle hospital carried out lung transplants on Irish patients.
Campaigners for Mr Burke argued that Irish donor lungs should be prioritised for him and other Irish patients, and released to a hospital willing to carry out a transplant.
They also wanted to highlight the need for a lung transplant facility in Ireland.
After the Newcastle decision, Mr Burke sought a second opinion from specialists at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester. They deemed him suitable for a transplant and placed him on their lung transplant waiting list.
The Manchester hospital denied claims by Mr Burke it would only carry out the transplant if Irish donor lungs were released to it. However, Mr Burke felt that since the Newcastle hospital would not release lungs from an Irish donor for him, he had little hope of a transplant. His condition was deteriorating rapidly and he was on the maximum amounts of oxygen.
Some 55,000 people signed petitions on his behalf and 5,000 gathered at an emotional rally in Killorglin last April.
The rally was addressed by local TD Mr John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, who came under enormous pressure as a Cabinet member to act on Mr Burke's behalf and to ensure a transplant took place.
Mr O'Donoghue said he wished he could guarantee everything would be all right for Mr Burke, but he could not. He had enormous sympathy for Mr Burke and his family but he was a politician, not a doctor, he said.
Mr Burke was too ill to attend the rally.
However, he said afterwards: "I feel over the moon. It's really lifted a weight off my shoulders that there's that much support, that I am not going to be left to fight this on my own."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, visited Mr Burke in Killorglin a few days after the rally.
A family friend and campaigner Ms Anne Foley said yesterday that Mr Burke had died surrounded by family and friends at the Mater hospital in Dublin.
He had been rushed there from his home last week after his condition deteriorated.
"He's a real hero. He put up a great battle and he fought right to the bitter end.
"We love him. He's at peace at last," Ms Foley said.
Mr Burke's sister, Ms Lisa Burke, said the family were proud of him and he had fought to the end.
In April, Mr Burke said he could not understand the Government standing by and allowing a situation whereby even if his own father was in a situation to transplant his lungs to him, he could not do so because of the Department of Health's arrangement with the Freeman Hospital.
Mr Burke's funeral Mass will be at St James's Church, Killorglin, tomorrow.