Hundreds of people lined the streets of Cork yesterday to pay a final farewell to former Independent member of Cork City Council and well-known character Bernie Murphy, who died at the weekend aged 72.
Lord Mayor of Cork Donal Counihan led the tributes to Mr Murphy whom he described as one of the last genuine Cork characters.
"He had his own sense of dignity and forbearance and everyone here at City Hall was very fond of him," Mr Counihan recalled.
Mr Murphy, a familiar sight on the streets of Cork in the 1970s and 1980s where he worked as a sandwich-board man, stunned political observers in 1985 when he ran in the local elections and won a seat in the North Central ward.
He paid a controversial visit to San Francisco in 1986 after an invitation from a newspaper columnist.
He denied he was being used as a publicity stunt and said he was going to the US to get jobs for the people of Cork and "a new set of teeth" for himself.
Among the hundreds in St Finbarr's South church yesterday were many who had served with him on Cork City Council in 1985.
Other public representatives included Cork South Central Labour TD Ciarán Lynch; councillors Catherine Clancy, Mick O'Connell and Lorraine Kingston (Labour); Terry Shannon (Fianna Fáil) and Joe O'Callaghan (Fine Gael).
After Mass, Mr Murphy's coffin was brought by horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Cork .
The cortege passed along Merchant's Quay and down Patrick Street and the Grand Parade before the coffin was transferred to a hearse and brought to St James's Cemetery at Chetwynd on the Bandon Road, where he was buried.
