TRIBUTES HAVE been paid following the death of former Fianna Fáil TD Michael Fitzpatrick, who represented Kildare North in the last Dáil.
The party’s Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown, Co Kildare, due to take place tomorrow, has been cancelled as a mark of respect to Mr Fitzpatrick.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he had been deeply saddened to learn of the death of his friend and former colleague.
“Michael was a true gentleman. He never took for granted the honour of being a member of Dáil Éireann. His honesty and generosity of spirit earned him the respect of all sides of the House. He will be sadly missed.”
A former adviser and constituency manager for Charlie McCreevy, he was elected to Kildare County Council in 1999 and became mayor of Kildare in 2003. He was also a former member of Fianna Fáil’s national executive.
Unlike many senior Fianna Fáil TDs, he contested the last general election. He lost his seat, along with party colleague Áine Brady.
In August 2010, Mr Fitzpatrick spoke about his diagnosis of motor neurone disease, a progressive neurological condition affecting the central nervous system, in an interview with The Irish Times.
“I know this condition is incurable and terminal, but I think of living all the time, not dying . . . I’m not scared of death per se. I’m a practising Catholic. I attend Mass at least once a week, I pray and I have faith. My faith is what is keeping me going as well as everything else,” he said.
In the course of the interview, Mr Fitzpatrick revealed he had “compared notes” with Brian Lenihan. “We are both on a journey. We talk and chat to one another about our illnesses,” he said. Mr Lenihan died in June, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the end of the previous year.
