THE FUNERAL took place in Dingle yesterday of Dr Micheál Fanning, the local general practitioner who founded and directed the annual Féile na Bealtaine in the town and was also a distinguished poet in Irish and English.
Dr Fanning, who was 56, died on Christmas Eve.
Féile na Bealtaine, the Dingle peninsula’s arts festival, has grown to incorporate music, drama, art, children’s activities and other arts-related events.
It was held for the 15th time this year when it brought the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Liam Óg Ó Floinn to Dingle to perform Granuaile and The Brendan Voyage in St Mary’s Church.
The open-air highlight of the festival is a spectacular parade through Dingle which brings the town to a standstill on the May bank holiday Monday.
Dr Fanning was one of the most prominent GPs and healthcare advocates in the southwest, and was centrally involved in a number of initiatives in Dingle.
Symbols of his life, including his medicine bag and his published volumes of poetry, were placed on the altar yesterday. The large red lamp he brought with him on night calls on the peninsula was lit during the Mass.
The concelebrated Mass, mostly said in Irish in recognition of his love for the language, heard how dying at Christmas was regarded as a special blessing in west Kerry.
A very large congregation of mourners queued to sympathise with Dr Fanning’s family at the funeral Mass in St Mary’s Church yesterday. He was buried in St Brendan’s Cemetery, Dingle.
He is survived by his wife Nóirín, his son Dr Peter Fanning, and his daughters Ruth and Rachel.