The late Dan McCarthy ‘a fearless and tireless advocate' – Penrose

Labour Party TD for Longford/Westmeath, Willie Penrose, is among those who have paid tribute to former Westmeath county councillor Dan McCarthy, who died yesterday.

Mr McCarthy, a farmer from Galmoylestown, Mullingar, served as a county councillor in the 1970s and, after a long absence, was re-elected to the local authority on the Labour ticket in 1999. Thereafter, he served until his retirement in 2012, accruing some 23 years experience as an elected representative. He was also a former chairman of Westmeath VEC (now Longford and Westmeath ETB).

In between, Mr McCarthy became nationally renowned as one of the co-founders of the revived National Land League in the late 1960s, which agitated on behalf of small farmers and the rural population as Ireland signed up to the EEC. He also served a long stint as chairman of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA).

“My first memory of Dan is from the late 1960s,” said Deputy Penrose. “He was a powerful orator and advocate, and in a few sentences, he could extol like nobody else the virtues and goodness of rural Ireland, and make a strong, sustained argument as to why it was being left behind, or why a particular policy might not be the most beneficial for his rural people.

“He was a fearless and tireless advocate. He’d rise early in the mornings with his wife Ann and their family to do farm work, and then hit the road, initially with the Land League, with Ned Gilligan, Paddy Jordan and other stalwarts.

“Their main aim was to ensure that smallholders and the landless benefited from land being redistributed by the Irish Land Commission. Often, as a result of their campaigns, they would force the Land Commission to actually acquire land for the people that might otherwise have been bought up by speculators and ranchers. This got landless people on the land ladder, and helped small farmers extend their holdings.

“The Land League was a great campaign, and I remember being involved as a young agricultural person in the late 1970s, attending meetings and press conferences with Dan, Ned and Paddy in Buswell’s Hotel.”

As chairman of the ICMSA, Deputy Penrose said that Mr McCarthy was “in his element” when dealing with the Government’s Disadvantaged Area Appeals Committee. “There are a lot of people in rural Ireland, farmers or not, who owe much thanks to Dan and his colleagues on both the Land League and the ICMSA,” he said.

The Ballynacargy man said that in 1999, the Labour Party’s fortunes in Westmeath were helped greatly by its recruitment of Mr McCarthy, who brought his “flamboyance and oratorical skills to the chamber” with great effect.

“He always lit up when something from the rural perspective came on the agenda,” Deputy Penrose said. “He had a great social conscience.

“He also had a strong faith, which won him a lot of admiration. He could be strongly independent his on views – a very admirable trait. He espoused an independence and fearlessness that resonated with a lot of people, and made him well respected at Labour headquarters.

“He was also very loyal to the party. He was an extremely hard worker when it came to canvassing, and he was unbelievably fit.”

Deputy Penrose paid tribute to Mr McCarthy’s wife, Ann, and their children. “Family was central to Dan’s life, and his whole reason for being,” he said. “Which is another admirable trait.

“There are very few people like Dan McCarthy coming on to the political scene nowadays, with that sort of breadth of experience, and a gift of articulating it in an experienced way.

“He was very learned from a political perspective. He knew the power of the press. There wasn’t a Minister for Agriculture or Lands who didn’t know him – and they all knew his way: a big shake of the hands and a smile, and down to business.

“I learned a lot from him. He’ll be greatly missed.”

Predeceased by his sons, Donal and Laurence, Dan McCarthy is mourned by his wife Ann, their son Oliver, daughters Margueritta, Regina and Noeleen, and his extended family, including Samantha Gill, sons-in-law Seamus Keogh and Ciaran McKenna, daughter-in-law Irene, Oliver’s partner Yvonne, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and a wide circle of neighbours and friends.

After reposing at his home this Sunday, August 26 (5pm to 8pm; house private at all other times, please), Dan will be removed to the Church of the Assumption, Taughmon on Monday morning for 12 noon Funeral Mass, and will be laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery (house private on Monday morning, please).