Hopefuls mourn man ‘above’ running for Dáil

IT TAKES a great man to ensure national politicians maintain a low profile.

Traditionally, funerals ‘breathe life’ into the political fraternity.

But when they are mourning a man who was a tower in their constituency, there is little option to bow heads and pay their respects.

Such was the case at the burial of GAA legend Con Murphy in Innishannon yesterday.

The funeral temporarily put the brakes on election campaigns in city and county. The candidates remained in the wings where, on other solemn occasions, they would be elbowing in on the pallbearers. They even revered the man enough to ignore the publicity bait brought about by the presence of photographers and a TV camera crew.

Afterwards, the smattering of hopefuls in attendance did not wait to press home the party message.

Mr Murphy would not have had to knock on too many doors to walk into public office: he was a former president of the GAA, a long-serving Cork county secretary, sports star, member of the RTÉ authority, administrator of Our Lady’s Hospital and a Freeman of Cork City. And yet he never ran for the Dáil.

As Cork south-west candidate Christy O’Sullivan remarked afterwards, “he was above all that”.

“He was a great man in every area of life. You do not see too many of those around anymore,” he said.

Some candidates did not make yesterday’s burial, while others paid their respects at Monday night’s removal. But it was not just the safe seats who took the morning off the campaign trail to attend yesterday.

Among the mourners were Donal Moynihan from Cork north-west and Ciarán Lynch from the south central constituency.

And after the sombre proceedings came to close everybody was immediately back on the campaign trail, jockeying for position.