MINISTER FOR Education Ruairí Quinn gave the graveside oration yesterday at the funeral of Michael Bell (74), former Labour TD for Louth, who died last Friday.
He told those gathered, including current Labour TD for Louth Gerald Nash, and his party colleague in Meath, Dominic Hannigan TD, that they were at the “grave of a great man who we are now laying to his final rest and already the winds that are blowing us [today] are a clear indication of the storm he is causing wherever he has gone to now!”
The Minister said the late TD, who was also a senior official in what was then the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, now Siptu, was “a friend of mine for more than 30 years”. He recalled how the determination of the then Labour candidate to win a seat in Louth was “palpable” and how he secured that ambition in November 1982.
“Farewell my friend and socialist, farewell my Labour Party colleague, farewell comrade, rest in peace,” the Minister said.
There was a guard of honour by former colleagues in the FCA as the coffin was carried from the church to the hearse. On its arrival at St Peter’s Cemetery, members of the Reserve Defence Forces provided a guard of honour.
Mementoes of Mr Bell’s life and times were brought to the altar by members of his family.
They included the red robe he wore when mayor of Drogheda; a picture of him with his family; a pen to signify the work he did for his constituents; and a mortar shell in memory of his time in the FCA.
The first reading was by his nephew Cllr Paul Bell, the mayor of Drogheda and a Siptu official, and the second by Gerald Nash TD, who secured the seat lost by Mr Bell in 2002.
Mr Bell, who held his Dáil seat for 20 years and lived an “extraordinary, fulfilled and exciting life”, was recalled at the end of the Mass by his friend Paul Murphy.
Among the mourners yesterday were the former leader of the Labour Party Dick Spring, the former minister for justice Dermot Ahern, former TD Brendan McGahon and former senator James Carroll.
The Taoiseach was represented by Comdt Tom Walsh.
Mr Bell was laid to rest beside his late wife, Betty.