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Guardian of the bay is laid to rest

Thursday, 22 July 2010

HUNDREDS of long-time admirers joined close family and friends for the funeral of Sean Dublin Bay Loftus last Tuesday morning (July 13).  They gathered in Clontarf to bid farewell to the dedicated father-of-three, campaigner, former Lord Mayor and self-appointed guardian of Dublin Bay. Fittingly, Sean’s beloved bay was at its most beautiful, shimmering and shining through the hazy sun as his funeral mass got underway at St Gabriel’s Church. Chief mourners were his wife, Una; his three children, Muireann, Ruairi and Fiona; grandchildren Jessica, Claire, Aoibhin and Ciara; and his sisters Maureen Walsh, Brid Kennedy and Eileen McVeigh. According to his daughter Muireann, Sean was a man of “integrity, honesty, tenacity and generosity of spirit” who “never did anything in his life motivated by personal gain”. As a passionate politician, who had a “long life and used it well”, Sean taught his children that “one person standing alone can make a difference”. Sean Loftus passed away on July 10 after a colourful life filled with passion and conviction. The former Dublin North East TD was best known for changing his name by deed poll in his tireless campaign to protect Dublin Bay against repeated attempts to develop it. Although he was seriously ill in hospital, Sean celebrated a major victory last month when An Bord Pleanala refused Dublin Port Company permission to infill 52 acres of Dublin Bay. Speaking to Northside People from his hospital bed where he was recovering from brain surgery, Sean said the news was “just what the doctor ordered”. “It’s fantastic news and very uplifting for me as I’m recovering from surgery,” he said at the time. “This is a great victory for myself, the other members of Dublin Bay Watch and the people of Dublin because the bay is the jewel in the city’s crown.” Sean’s fellow members of Dublin Bay Watch - Liam O Dwyer, Joe Nolan, Mona O Leary, Peter Bailey, Justin O’Flaherty and Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Gerry Breen - said he would be sadly missed but always fondly remembered. “As a Dubliner and a councillor, Sean has fought for the protection of Dublin Bay over the past 40 years,” a Dublin Bay Watch statement read. “When the latest attempts to infill the bay started in 1999, a small group of volunteers gathered around Sean and Dublin Bay Watch was formed. “Over the past 10 years there have been numerous meetings, hundreds of thousands of leaflets dropped with Sean an unstoppable enthusiastic.” The members of Dublin Bay Watch last met in January for a meal to mark the end of the Bord Pleanála oral hearing into Dublin Port Company’s extension plans. “Sean, although ill, was delighted with the rejection of the infill application by An Bord Pleanála recently, the statement added.  “Our thoughts are with his wife Una and children Muireann, Fiona, Ruairi and his grandchildren.”