Susie Long: Susie Long, who has died aged 41, came to public attention when she exposed the cruel inadequacies in the public health system that, she believed, led to her premature death.
Battling against bowel cancer, she highlighted her plight under the pseudonym "Rosie" on RTÉ radio last January, appearing on the media on several subsequent occasions under her real name.
She was prompted to contact the media by a public health advertisement on television that urged viewers to lose no time in getting tested for bowel cancer if they had any cause for concern. The advertisement implied that patients at risk would receive immediate attention, but this was not her experience.
In an e-mail to Livelinepresenter Joe Duffy, she outlined how she had waited seven months for her cancer to be diagnosed, because she was a public patient. By contrast, she knew of a private patient who had been treated within three days, although she expressed relief that he had received the necessary treatment.
Notwithstanding the fact that she and her husband were in employment, they could not afford private health insurance. "But even if we could have, we wouldn't have gotten it because we believed . . . that all people should get good care despite their incomes." She was convinced that her cancer would have been diagnosed sooner and treated successfully if she had private insurance.
She was in no doubt as to where blame lay. "It is government policy that put me on a seven-month waiting list for a colonoscopy. The blame for the failure to diagnose me in time to save my life lies squarely with the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern." Likewise, she was critical of those who voted for Fianna Fáil and the PDs "because they thought they'd get a few more shillings in their pockets". However, she had nothing but admiration for health service workers, who were expected to do a good job in conditions where underfunding prevailed and services were poorly organised.
At the funeral service this week, family friend Malcolm Noonan said: "She really mobilised a country into thinking about itself and thinking about ourselves, as to where we're going as a society." Another friend Teresa Ryan said: "Engaging with Susie was always uplifting, particularly in these last few months. One friend told me that when she went in to see her, expecting it to be difficult, [but] she came out elated."
Born in Orrville, a small town in Ohio, she grew up as Karen Sue Long. A tomboy, as a teenager she enjoyed motorcycling with her brother Mike Fejes, since deceased.
An interest in Irish history and a liking for the novels of Jennifer Johnston lay behind her decision to travel to Ireland. She arrived in Dublin, aged 18, in 1984 and supported herself by selling jewellery from a street stall and working as a waitress in a city-centre restaurant.
In 1986 she met Conor Mac Liam, a secondary school teacher, and they were married a year later. The couple moved to Higginstown, near Kilkenny city, in 1991 and quickly became involved in the local community.
They were active in the Kilkenny School Project and Susie became school secretary. She also raised funds for Amber, Kilkenny's Women's Refuge, and later worked on a part-time basis for the refuge.
She inherited her activism and sense of social justice from her great-grandmother, Sis Coyle, a member of the Wobblies and supporter of Eugene V. Debs, a five-time socialist candidate for the US presidency. A member of Amnesty International, she was also a member of Earth Watch.
During her second pregnancy, she was involved in legal action to secure health board support for home births. However, she had to make her own arrangements as she had done in the case of her first child.
A question she put to Bono for a New York Timesfeature in September 2005 was selected for publication. "Will there ever be just one too many broken promises that will make you join the great unwashed?" she asked the singer. "Could you ever see yourself standing at the head of the march the way Martin Luther King did, demanding, instead of asking nicely?" Bono replied that he would have lunch with the devil if he thought it would make a difference and that he would be proud to march - "at the front or at the back".
She had a great sense of humour and loved music, particularly alternative country and the songs of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. In recent years she enjoyed visiting Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Paris and Berlin. She had hoped to visit Cuba, partly for the satisfaction of getting a Cuban stamp on her US passport, but it was not to be.
Invited in May to join the Ossory diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes, she dutifully attended Mass at the basilica and then left the "holy trail for the tourist trail". Unfortunately she took ill and was hospitalised.
She acknowledged that her lack of religious belief made dying harder. "I would love to have a belief in religion because it makes you feel safe but, unfortunately, I just don't . . . I was a very strong Catholic until I moved to Ireland."
In 2004 the family settled in Callan. She spent her final months at Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross. Elizabeth Coyle, the hospice's lay chaplain, said Susie "really made a difference, and that's what she wanted. She gave so much in the short time she had." There are plans to commemorate her in a permanent way in the 24-bed day services unit to be built at St Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny.
She is survived by her husband Conor, daughter Áine, son Fergus and sister Linda Huntsbuerger.
Susie Long: born February 24th, 1966; died October 12th, 2007.