‘I have no doubt faith shaped her life’, tributes to former minister and matriarch

Former minister and Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke, who was the first woman elected to Athlone Urban District Council and subsequently held cabinet positions as the Minister for Health and also the Minister for Education throughout the 1980s and 1990s, was described as a person of “strong character and personality” and somebody whose life was shaped by faith at her funeral.

Addressing the congregation at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Coosan, Athlone, Fr Patrick Murphy the administrator of the parish, recalled Ms O’Rourke’s life and legacy during the homily. “Mary was blessed with that strong personality and character that allowed her to enter and to succeed in what was then a male dominated space,” he said.

Ms O’Rourke, who died last Thursday at the age of 87 and was born into a family steeped in Irish political history, was somebody, in the words of Fr Murphy, who let faith shape their life. “Where Christ has gone we too hope to follow,” he said. “This is the heart of our faith, the faith that assures us there is a life yet to be revealed. This is the faith that Mary shared in. I have no doubt it is a faith that strengthened her throughout her life.”