TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny last night led tributes to former Labour TD for Louth Michael Bell who died yesterday.
Extending his sympathy and that of the Government to Mr Bell’s family, Mr Kenny said: “I served for many years with Michael in the Dáil and I know him to have been a politician who worked tirelessly on behalf of his constituents.”
Mr Bell died yesterday at the Mater Private Hospital. Elected to the Dáil in 1982, Mr Bell held on to the Labour seat until 2002.
A former chairman of the Labour parliamentary party, he also chaired Oireachtas committees and was party spokesman on social welfare, industry, commerce and justice in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was a member of the Council of Europe from 1993 to 1994. Working as a union official for a number of years, Mr Bell was a member of Ictu from 1965 to 1982. He also sat on Louth County Council and Drogheda Corporation, holding the office of mayor of Drogheda from 1984 to 1985.
Tánaiste Éamon Gilmore said: “Michael Bell was not just a mentor. He was also a colleague and a friend. He served with distinction as a Labour Party TD for two decades and was regarded with great affection by the people of Louth, and the people of Drogheda in particular.”
Gerald Nash reclaimed the Labour seat for Louth in this year’s general election, and Mr Gilmore said: “Michael throwing his full weight behind Gerald Nash’s campaign was a major contributing factor . . . Michael was at the election count, offering his advice and analysis to campaigners and journalists.” Paying tribute to Mr Bell, Mr Nash said: “He was a man of enormous integrity and decency and had an innate sense of fairness and a deep commitment to the vulnerable in society.”