Taoiseach Micheál Martin has led tributes to former Cork North Central Progressive Democrats TD and a founder member of the party Máirin Quill who has died in Cork today at the age of 89.
Mr Martin said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Máirin Quill, someone who served the people of Cork with great distinction as a city councillor, senator and a deputy in Dáil Éireann.
“Erudite and impactful, Máirin championed the arts and culture in Cork city – I served on many boards with her, but I particularly enjoyed our time together on the arts committee of Cork Corporation.
“Máirin was a true renaissance figure with a great sense of the future of our city – she was always very helpful in providing advice and creative ideas – she was a true patriot, and it was an honour to be her friend and colleague.”
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A native of Kilgarvan in Co Kerry, Ms Quill grew up in a family of staunch Fianna Fáil supporters. When she later moved to Cork to teach English and history in St Vincent’s Girls School on the city’s northside she joined a Fianna Fáil Cumann in the city.
Taoiseach Jack Lynch was impressed with her performance on the current affairs programme Seven Days, and he added her to the Fianna Fáil ticket in Cork city in the 1977 general election but she failed to win a seat, coming sixth in the five seat constituency.
Two years later however she was elected to Cork Corporation for the North East Ward only to again fail to a seat when she finished sixth in the five seat Cork North Central constituency in the 1981 general election.
But four years later, she left Fianna Fáil to become a founder member of the Progressive Democrats with Des O’Malley, Mary Harney and Bobby O’Malley. In 1987 she won a seat for the party in Cork North Central, one of 14 PD TDs returned for the 25th Dáil.
She retained her seat in both 1989 and 1992 only to lose out to Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher in 1997, but she was subsequently nominated by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern as a senator to serve in the 21st Seanad.
She returned to local politics two years later, winning a seat on Cork Corporation for the Cork North East Ward in 1999 and she again retained her seat in 2004 but stood down from local politics in 2009 and did not contest that year’s local elections.
Ms Quill and her sister Ita were involved in a serious road traffic incident in 2006 when a bus careered into the car in which they were travelling along Cork’s Wellington Road, close to their home. They suffered multiple fractures and spent several weeks in hospital.
Ms Quill received a standing ovation from her fellow councillors when she returned to Cork City Hall four months later, walking with the aid of a crutch and she continued to serve as an active member of the council until she retired in 2009.
Ms Quill was a niece of the Irish America labour leader, ‘Red’ Mike Quill, who left Ireland after the Civil War. He founded the Transport Workers Union of America and was an outspoken opponent of racism and early supporter of Dr Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.
Ms Quill’s funeral takes place on Saturday at 10am in St Patrick’s Church, Lower Glanmire Road, Cork.
