The late PJ Morley (81 ) was laid to rest in Knock cemetery on Wednesday afternoon last after his funeral mass. Mr Morley served as a Fianna Fáil TD for 20 years from 1977 to 1997 for the Mayo East constituency and was one of the driving forces in securing Government backing for the construction of Knock Airport in the 1980s. He died at Mayo General Hospital last Sunday following a short illness and is survived by his immediate family, wife Mary, sons Enda, Patrick, and Brian and daughter Cathy; his sisters Mary, Rene, and Bridget.
Giving the graveside oration, Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin said of Morley, “He was a man who, with quiet determination, went out and got the job done. He was well liked across the political divide and had wonderful time for everyone with his natural quiet warmth of character. This was a strength that he carried as a teacher from his home in Mayo into the corridors of Leinster House in Dublin and beyond.”
Praising his role in getting Knock Airport up and running Dep Martin said, “They say politics is the art of the possible but with Knock airport PJ may have proved them wrong. In the teeth of opposition from a Dublin set who said it would never work, PJ had the vision and the commitment to drive the project forward. His close working relationship with the late Monsignor Horan helped bring to fruition a bold project that defied and continues to defy the critics. PJ played a vital role in getting Charlie Haughey on board for the project and securing what Monsignor Horan called the ‘greatest day in Connacht for a hundred years’. When that first plane taxied up the freshly paved runway and took flight for Rome in 1985, PJ Morley had played his part. The people of the west of Ireland now enjoy the lasting benefits of Knock Airport a major infrastructural boost to the region that accommodates hundreds of thousands of passengers every year.”
The current Fianna Fáil leader told those gathered at the graveside that he first met Mr Morley after he himself was first elected as a TD in 1989 and “As a young man trying to come to grips with a new, tumultuous workplace I remember being deeply impressed by the modest and unassuming nature of PJ. He was a man who, with quiet determination, went out and got the job done.” That same modesty would lead the same man to be embarrassed about the tributes being paid to him, according to Dep Martin. “In truth, however, PJ would be embarrassed by me singing his praises for he was a modest man. He had the kind of quiet commitment to public service that toils away not for profit or glory but for the common good. His cause was the ordinary people he represented, their fight, was his fight. In a time of cynicism about public life, the quiet, modest, unassuming but profound commitment of PJ Morley to public service stands out as a shining example.”
Calleary pays tribute to ‘true gentleman’ of Mayo politics
Mayo TD Dara Calleary paid tribute to the former Fianna Fáil deputy and long-time Mayo County Council member.
Dep Calleary described Mr Morley as “a true gentleman from top to toe, and a politician of the highest integrity.”
“PJ was an extremely personable individual who was much loved by people across Co Mayo and by all of his colleagues across the political divide. He served on Mayo County Council for over 30 years and was cathaoirleach on a number of occasions. As a councillor and a TD, PJ delivered many projects across east Mayo. He was instrumental in securing Government support for Ireland West Airport Knock, working closely with the late Monsignor Horan to make it a reality.
“It is fitting that we would say of PJ, ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Dílis means 'noble', and there were few people in Mayo politics more noble than PJ,” Dep Calleary said.
Former Mayo Fianna Fáil TD Seán Calleary added: “It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to one of the most honourable politicians that ever served the people of Mayo. PJ was a great friend and I had the pleasure of contesting seven general elections with him.”
Leonard Ryan, Mayo constituency delegate of the Fianna Fáil National Executive, said of Mr Morley: “PJ was a true gentleman and a man of great integrity. The term ‘of the people’ is bandied about in modern politics but PJ was a true ‘man of the people’ who worked and socialised with his constituents in equal measure and delivered for the people of East Mayo diligently and effectively but in his own style - without fanfare or ostentation. I first encountered PJ Morley as a portrait hanging among those of the former múinteoirí in Coogue national school when I was a student there. In my later years, as PJ was a member of my own Chomhairle Cheantair, I would see him in action at the meetings my father would take me to. He always knew everyone in attendance and could interact with the entire room effortlessly. This was his art.”
