IRELAND LOST MANY much-loved names in 2024.
From comedians, sport stars and many famous names, here are some of the well-known Irish people who died this year.
Kilkenny said goodbye to two-time All-Ireland hurling winner John ‘Jack’ Kinsella, after he passed away peacefully on 1 January at St Luke’s Hospital, surrounded by family.
Kinsella was successful with his club Bennetsbridge, winning three senior county titles in 1966,’67 and ’71.
On 2 January, well-known retired Garda Murder Squad member Detective Inspector Gerry O’Carroll died. The former investigator came to prominence in a number of cases in Ireland, including the now-discredited investigation known as the Kerry Babies case – one that shook the nation in the 1980s.
Ian Bailey, the self-confessed chief suspect in the murder of French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork, died on 21 January.
Bailey, who was originally from Britain, was arrested by gardaí and questioned in relation to the murder but was never charged. He had always vehemently denied any involvement in Toscan du Plantier’s death.
On 27 January, John Connor (79), who served as a senator and a TD, died in a road accident near Frenchpark, Co Roscommon. He was a longstanding politician, serving for decades.
February began with the death of former Taoiseach and political heavyweight John Bruton. The Fine Gael politician died peacefully in the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin, surrounded by his family.
John Bruton led Fine Gael from 1990 until 2001, and served as Taoiseach between December 1994 and June 1997 as head of the ‘rainbow coalition’ alongside Labour and Democratic Left.
Dublin GAA was left shocked and saddened following the sudden death of Shane O’Hanlon (St Vincent’s), who had been a selector with the Dublin senior football team since 2013. On 14 February, Maureen Mullins, matriarch of the famous Irish horse racing family, passed away aged 94.
Well-known and much respected Kerry journalist Michael O’Regan died at his home in Dublin. O’Regan was a political correspondent with The Irish Times across four decades from the 1980s and had been a regular voice and face across radio and television.
The month of March saw a number of tragic deaths of much-loved Irish people.
Down GAA great and three-time All-Ireland winner Dan McCartan died at the age of 84. Tragically, Dundalk’s 2005 FAI Cup winner Sonia Hoey, who was also a former Louth LGFA player, died at a young age.
The tragic death also occurred of BBC journalist and Co Wexford native Nick Sheridan. He was 32. Nick worked for BBC Scotland and previously worked for RTÉ, where he was the host of the children’s TV news programme, news2day.
March also saw the death of much-loved former journalist, broadcaster and charity campaigner Charlie Bird.
Bird, who retired from Montrose in 2012 as Chief News Correspondent, spent almost four decades reporting for the national broadcaster, having joined as a researcher in current affairs in 1974. He died after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2021. Charlie Bird used his time with MND to tirelessly campaign for charity, raising over €3 million for Pieta House.
Later in the month, former long-serving Labour Party TD Emmet Stagg died at the age of 79, after a long illness. Stagg served as a TD in the Kildare and Kildare North constituencies for 29 years, from 1987 to 2016.
The actor Emmet Bergin – who played businessman Dick Moran in the long-running Sunday night RTÉ drama Glenroe – also died in March.
Saoírse Ruane, A Toy Show favourite who inspired millions, died aged 12. Saoírse, from Co Galway, appeared on the Late Late Toy Show in 2020 where she spoke about living with a rare form of cancer called Osteosarcoma.
On 17 April, Alf McCarthy died at the age of 73. McCarthy spent over 35 years working as a producer, director and presenter on RTÉ radio and television.
Early in the month of May, former MEP Mary Banotti died at the age of 84. Banotti served as an MEP for Dublin from 1984 to 2004 and was Fine Gael’s candidate in the 1997 presidential election.
Tony O’Reilly, one of the country’s best known businessmen, died at the age of 88. O’Reilly, who was also known as a media magnate and international rugby player for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, died in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin on 17 May.
Former FAI CEO Fran Rooney died following an illness at the age of 67.
June saw some well-known media and political figures die.
Former Cork TD and Minister of State Bernard Allen died at the age of 79. A former Fine Gael junior minister, Allen was first elected to the Dáil in 1981 and held his Cork North Central seat until he retired from politics in 2011.
Tributes poured in from across the country following the death of legendary GAA broadcaster Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh at the age of 93. The commentator on Gaelic games was much-loved and revered, broadcasting during the games between 1949 and 2010 on RTÉ Radio.
Soon after, the death was announced of another well-known broadcaster, former RTÉ journalist Tommie Gorman. Gorman spent more than 40 years working in the industry, covering developments in the north, in Europe and in his native north-west.
Sporting hero and former Galway manager John O’Mahony died at the age of 71 in July.
The Mayo native and Ballaghaderreen clubman won two All-Ireland senior football titles with Galway in 1998 and 2001.
That first victory with the Tribesmen was the first time a Connacht county lifted Sam Maguire in 32 years.
Trailblazing Irish novelist and memoirist Edna O’Brien died at the age of 93. The internationally renowned author wrote many novels, poems, short stories, essays and plays across a long and illustrious career.
Irishman Aidan O’Leary, the director of the World Health Organization’s End Polio programme, died while on holiday with his family. O’Leary, who spearheaded global programmes to eradicate Polio, died on Tuesday according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Former Connacht Rugby player Rory Burke died at the age of 30.
Rory, who was a prop with the side, was part of the squad for the 2019/2020 season after joining the province from Nottingham. He was also capped at U20 level for Ireland in 2014.
A sporting great, Cork football’s Kevin Kehily died at the age of 74.
Kehily won two All-Stars, in 1980 and 1982, and three Munster senior medals.
The woman believed to be Ireland’s oldest person also died just a few months after celebrating her 109th birthday. Phyllis Furness passed away in Galway.
August also saw the death of journalist, author and feminist activist Nell McCafferty, who passed away at the age of 80.
McCafferty worked as a journalist for The Irish Times, The Irish Press, Hotpress and a number of other publications over a long career. She was known for her writing on social justice, women’s issues and poverty.
In September, former assistant garda commissioner John O’Driscoll died suddenly at the age of 64.
John O’Driscoll led Garda operations against the Kinahan cartel and other organised drug crime groups in Ireland during the final years of his service. He retired in 2022 after serving as Assistant Commissioner for Special Crime Operations since 2016.
October began with the death of former government minister Mary O’Rourke, who was 87.
O’Rourke, a well-known commentator, had served in multiple Ministerial posts and was a stalwart of Fianna Fáil. She had also served as a senator but it was for her career in the Dáil that she was best known. She was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1982.
At the end of the month, David Davin-Power, a longstanding broadcaster and journalist died at the age of 72.
Davin-Power had worked in many roles in RTÉ, including as a political correspondent in Leinster House from 2001 to 2017. He continued to work in media following his retirement, appearing on radio and television programmes and writing guest columns for a number of newspapers as a political commentator.
Kathleen Watkins died in November at the age of 90. Watkins was a writer, broadcaster and musician. She was married to Gay Byrne, who hosted the Late Late Show from 1962 to 1999 and who died five years ago.
Renowned songwriter Johnny Duhan died tragically later in the month. He drowned at Silverstrand beach at Galway Bay.
Duhan was born in Limerick in 1950 and worked with artists such as Christy Moore, The Dubliners, Mary Black and many Irish and international singers.
In 2015 Moore said a song that Johnny Duhan had written, The Voyage, had been played at over a million weddings internationally. He recorded his own version of the song in 2005.
Another woman, Máire Ní Fhátharta from Doire Locháin Thoir, An Spidéal, also drowned in the same incident.
November also saw the death of comedy legend Jon Kenny. The much-loved comedian and actor who starred in D’Unbelievables died aged 66. Jon Kenny had a long and varied career as an actor, comedian, singer and performer.
Gemma Hussey, the former Fine Gael minister and TD, died at the age of 86.
A native of Bray, Co Wicklow, Hussey entered politics in 1977, initially as an Independent senator.
Three years later, she joined Fine Gael and served in various roles while in government, including Minister for Labour, Minister for Social Welfare, Minister for Education and Government Leader in the Seanad.
The last month of the year saw the death of Irish showband legend Dickie Rock. Rock passed away at the age of 88.
Rock experienced much success on the Irish charts during the 1960s, coming fourth in the 1966 Eurovision with the song Come Back To Stay, which became a hit in Ireland.
Between 1963 and 1972, Rock was one of the frontmen of the Miami Showband. He had 13 top-10 hits with them, including seven number ones.
Former Fine Gael TD Andrew Boylan also died at the age of 85. Boylan was a TD for the Cavan-Monaghan constituency from 1987 to 2002. He was first elected to Cavan County Council in 1974, where he served as Chair of the County and Urban Council before his run for the Dáil.
Former Tyrone footballer and Antrim manager Jody Gormley died at the age of 53. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer.
December also saw the death of Gearóid Ó Cairealláin, former President of Conradh na Gaeilge and the father of Kneecap star Móglaí Bap.
President Higgins described Gearóid Ó Cairealláin as a “major figure in the Irish language movement” and said that his death “is a great loss for all those who work for the use of the Irish language: its rights, its literature, and its place in the daily life of people”.
Ó Cairealláin passed away peacefully in hospital in his native Belfast aged 67.
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