THE conference of the Association of Health Boards in Ireland was abandoned on its second day after a delegate collapsed and died.
Mr Bart Horan, a dentist from Co Laois, had been dancing with his wife Chris after the Friday night banquet. When he sat down he suddenly collapsed. He received medical attention from doctors present but was dead on admission to Ennis Hospital.
Mr Horan was a brother of the late Monsignor James Horan of Knock. He was a member of the Midland Health Board and on the executive of the Association of Health Boards.
The Saturday session, at which the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, was to speak was cancelled and a Mass was held in the hotel instead.
Mr Jack Bourke, chairman of the association, told the congregation that Mr Horan had been a close and dear friend. "You could walk 100 miles and not find a nicer, kinder or more caring man," he said.
Mr Noonan, who attended the Mass, said Mr Horan's death brought the question of "why" to mind, "but our faith should not be dented, the faith that carried great families like the Horans through all difficulties."