President's 'great sadness' at death of Michael Diskin

President Michael D Higgins has expressed “great sadness” at the death of Galway arts administrator Michael Diskin (49), who died at the weekend after a long illness.

Mr Diskin, whose funeral takes place today in Galway, was manager of the Town Hall Theatre and a leading member of the city’s arts community.

Mr Higgins described him yesterday as a “dear friend”, and said he would be a “huge loss to all those who worked in the arts, culture, theatre and performance on this island”.

“He brought the Town Hall and the Black Box theatres in Galway to the forefront of performance, making them among the most used venues in the country,”the President said.

“He did marvellous work earlier in his career with the Lyric Theatre in Belfast,” Mr Higgins said.

“Above all he will be remembered by individual artists, especially new entrants to the fields of theatre, performance and visual arts, for his ongoing support,” he said.

Sawdoctors band manager Ollie Jennings, who worked closely with the theatre manager on the Project 06 campaign for an alternative arts festival six years ago, said Mr Diskin was “enormously supportive of young and emerging artists”.

“He worked through his illness, was enormously courageous, and organised the artists’ send-off for President Michael D Higgins last summer before he embarked on his election campaign,” Mr Jennings said.