Tributes to the Green Party councillor and his girlfriend who died in a road crash in Beijing on Tuesday were led yesterday by Dublin City University and the Green Party's Paul Gogarty.
Cllr Fintan McCarthy (37) and Sonya Rabbitte (33) died two days ago when their tourist minibus was in a collision with a truck as they drove to the Great Wall of China.
Cllr McCarthy had worked as a primary teacher in Inchicore, Dublin and had been appointed deputy principal prior to his 37th birthday two weeks ago, according to his party colleague and friend Paul Gogarty.
In a statement yesterday Mr Gogarty spoke of his disbelief on learning of the death of Cllr McCarthy and Ms Rabbitte. He paid tribute to his childhood friend, whom he described as a forthright but diplomatic, humble and fully committed public representative.
"In public life, Fintan was a hard-working, tireless campaigner on behalf of the community he grew up in. From the community council to the parish council, from the Special Olympics to his work as a councillor representing Lucan, Palmerstown and Quarryvale, Fintan excelled and always put the community first," he said.
"Everyone was so delighted when he and Sonya got together because she was such a lovely, genuine person. You could see that they were made for each other and it seemed to be a question of when, not if, they would tie the knot."
Ms Rabbitte, who was originally from Lucan, Co Dublin, had been working as a journalist for a German news agency based in Cork city.
Her parents were on a cruise in the Baltics when they were informed of their daughter's death. Ms Rabbitte's two sisters and two brothers, two of whom live and work in London, are due to return to the family home in Lucan in the coming days.
Yesterday, John Horgan, professor of journalism in DCU, said Ms Rabbitte's death represented a sad loss not only to her family but also to her classmates from the 1997 BA in Journalism in DCU.
"She went straight from college to work for the news agency to which she was attached at the time of her death, and where her linguistic as well as her journalistic skills were much appreciated," he said.
"The staff of the School of Communications and her journalistic colleagues everywhere would like to express their profound sympathy to her family."
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the department is offering consular assistance to both the McCarthy and Rabbitte families.