Tributes flow for the late Deputy John Carty

Tributes flow for late Deputy John Carty


Áine Ryan

MAYO County Council’s monthly meeting was adjourned yesterday (Monday) as a mark of respect for the late John Carty, a former councillor, DΡil deputy and senator. Leading the tributes, Fianna FΡil’s Cllr Al McDonnell said his former colleague may have been ‘a man of not so many words’ but he was ‘a man who made extraordinary efforts for his community and the people of the county’.
Cllr McDonnell said the continued success of Knock Airport ‘was a testament to his memory’. This was repeated by a number of councillors.
In an impassioned tribute, Cllr John Cribbin, Fine Gael, said: “News of John’s untimely death last Thursday week sent shock waves through the county. He was a proud Knock man and through his work as an Agricultural Inspector was on first-name terms with many of the farmers of the area and their families. John was involved with Fianna FΡil since a young age and was the late TD John Morely’s right-hand man.”
He cited his great interest in history and the GAA, noting that ‘he rarely missed a competitive fixture’.
His party and electoral area colleague, Cllr Damian Ryan said he had been ‘elected to the council in 1999’, the same day as himself and that ‘he had topped the poll’ in the area.
“The amount of funding he brought to this area as a TD is testament to his commitment. He brought back €27.5 million to Knock Airport when he was a deputy,” Cllr Ryan said.
Sinn Féin’s Cllr Gerry Murray concurred, saying ‘he had delivered a lot of funding to east Mayo despite the huge resistance in Dublin to give money to the west’.
Achill Councillor MicheΡl McNamara observed that while a DΡil deputy he had always found time to attend public meetings on the island.
All those who spoke expressed their sympathy about John’s ‘untimely death’ to his widow, Kathleen and their six sons and two daughters.  Concluding, Mr Peter Hynes, the County Manager, said ‘the word gentleman was often misused’ but that in John Carty’s case it was entirely appropriate. He observed that ‘it was not given to many people to serve in three chambers of public office but this was John’ achievement’.
The late John Carty served on Mayo County Council from 1999, as a DΡil Deputy from 2002 and as a Senator from 2007 to 2011.