Death of former Fine Gael TD, mayor and senator Joe Doyle

TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to former Fine Gael TD, senator and Dublin Lord Mayor Joe Doyle, who died on Saturday at Blackrock Hospice, Co Dublin, aged 73.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, expressing his condolences to the family of the former Dublin South-East TD, described him as an “outstanding public representative and an excellent parliamentarian. Joe was a Christian in every sense of the word and I would like to extend my sincere condolences to his wife, Peggy, and all his family at this sad and difficult time for them.”

He said: “Joe was a politician who was completely dedicated to the mandate assigned to him by the electorate. He epitomised all that was good in Irish politics and his contribution to parliamentary debate was both highly valued and in keeping with the realities of the day.

“Joe had a deep sense of loyalty to those with whom he served as a public representative and was always fully in tune with the needs and concerns of his constituents,” Mr Kenny added.

Mr Doyle, who was married with two sons and a daughter, served two terms as TD for Dublin South-East from 1982 to 1987 and from 1989 to 1992.

He was a senator from 1987 to 1989 and again from 1992 until 2002.

He was first elected to Dublin City Council in 1979 and served as Lord Mayor of Dublin between 1998 and 1999.

He retired from the council in 2004.

Educated at the Christian Brothers School in Westland Row, Dublin, and at University College Dublin, where he received a diploma in public administration, Mr Doyle served as a church sacristan before entering politics.

He was sacristan at the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook in 1955 when he stepped in as a last-minute best man for author and playwright Brendan Behan at his marriage to painter Beatrice Salkeld.

After his first term as a TD, Mr Doyle lost his Dublin South-East seat to Progressive Democrat Michael McDowell in 1987, but won it back in 1989 in a major vote-management strategy by his running mate, former taoiseach and party leader, Garret FitzGerald.

He lost the seat in 1992 when running mate Frances Fitzgerald won the only Fine Gael seat and in 1997 the party was left with no seats in the constituency.

As a public figure, Mr Doyle spoke about his epilepsy, which he developed when he was 16, and acted as director of Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association.

In 2007, he recalled that during an attack, “you lose your consciousness. It’s frightening in many ways.

“It’s not the attack itself, it’s the fear of having an attack. That fear never left me.”