Tributes paid to former Limerick mayor

THE Chief Justice John Murray was among the chief mourners who yesterday attended the funeral of former mayor of Limerick, Clem Casey.

The deceased, a well-known business and sporting figure, was uncle of Mr Justice Murray and Limerick state solicitor Michael Murray.

Mayor of Limerick Cllr John Gilligan, city manager Tom Mackey and members of the city council were among the packed congregation in St Joseph’s Church.

Mr Casey, who was 87, served as mayor between July 1980 and June 1981.

His son, Gerry Casey, told the congregation how his father hit international headlines when he was mayor when a British tabloid discovered that his father was one of many Limerick men who bathed in the nude — at a male-only spot at Burns’s Cove in Kilkee.

He recalled: “When the paper asked him if he would continue to bathe nude while mayor of Limerick, Clem replied ‘No, I’ll be wearing my chain of office’.”

Mr Casey was a lifelong member and former president of Young Munster Rugby Club and, until recently, met many of his old friends each morning at one of the city’s great rugby pubs, Myles Breen’s in Shannon Street.