Politics

Paul Coghlan loved family and politics during a life well lived, funeral Mass told

Former FG senator, who died aged 79, remembered as being ‘like a magnet for people’ drawn to his company

Paul Coghlan loved his wife, family and politics during a life that was well lived, his funeral Mass in Co Kerry has heard. Photograph: Dave Meehan
Paul Coghlan loved his wife, family and politics during a life that was well lived, his funeral Mass in Co Kerry has heard. Photograph: Dave Meehan
Anne Lucey
Tue Jun 13 2023 - 07:32

Former senator Paul Coghlan loved his wife, family and politics during a life that was well lived, his funeral Mass in Co Kerry has heard.

The Fine Gael member died last Thursday aged 79 after an illness that mourners at St Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney heard began soon after he retired from politics in 2020 after 22 years in the Seanad.

Fr Kieran O’Brien said away from his public roles, Mr Coghlan was a proud family man and husband whose five children and 10 grandchildren all gave him great joy.

“Paul was like a magnet for people who were drawn to his company,” said Fr O’Brien. “The secret to Paul’s success was hard work and his ability to get on with everyone.”

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‘No political divide’

The Mass heard that “there was no political divide” for Mr Coghlan and all he wanted was to achieve what could be. The priest said politics was Mr Coghlan’s vocation and that his day was planned around the daily news cycle.

Aide-de-camp Cmdt Stephen Howard represented President Michael D Higgins at the Mass while Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar was represented by aide-de-camp Cmdt Claire Mortimer.

Mr Varadkar had led a Fine Gael guard of honour at Mr Coghlan’s removal on Sunday along with Ministers Simon Harris and Simon Coveney, Ministers of State Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Martin Haydon and Seanad Cathaoirleach Jerry Buttimer.

There was an extended round of applause at the end of an address by Mr Coghlan’s eldest child, Michael, who recalled his father’s early life in boarding school, where he made lifelong friends before going to on to working in banking and meet his beloved Peggy at a Christmas party.

“Apart from Peggy and his family, politics was his love,” Michael said. “Dad was a great man to bring people together and he was especially interested in the British-Irish relationship.”

Social animal

Michael said his father had a keen interest in media and would have been delighted with the tributes to him in newspapers and on Radio Kerry, of which he was a founding director. He said Mr Coghlan was a very social animal and liked nothing better than meeting up with friends.

The family paid tribute to staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Nursing Home in Kilcummin, where Mr Coghlan had been a resident for the past two years, as well as to those who cared for him at University Hospital Kerry and Cork University Hospital.

Among the mourners were trustees and staff of Muckross House, where Mr Coghlan served for 46 years; local and national politicians past and present including Michael Healy-Rae, Damien English and Michael Noonan; and members of Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, of which he was a lifelong member.