Abuse survivor and former mayor of Clonmel Michael O’Brien gave “a voice to the voiceless” and lived a life rich in service to others, his requiem Mass has heard.
Mr O’Brien, of Oliver Plunkett Terrace, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, died on Tuesday at his daughter Geraldine’s residence. The 92-year-old was predeceased in 2022 by his wife Mary.
His granddaughter, Jeanette Kelly, told mourners at St Mary’s Church in Irishtown, Co Tipperary, that Michael had made an impact on the nation “in a matter of minutes” in 2009 when he spoke on RTÉ about the abuse he had suffered at an industrial school.
“Those powerful words [on RTÉ’s Questions and Answers] made a difference. As they get repeated on the airwaves over the last few days they still ring true,” she said.
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“Looking over the condolences it is amazing how many lives he touched and how he gave a voice to those suffering and created hope. It is a powerful reminder that one voice can change everything.”
Jeanette, who was joined on the altar by her sister Sharon, who read a poem, said her grandfather was very much a family man.
She said her grandparents, Michael and Mary, loved to dance and were ballroom dancing champions.
“At all our weddings they hit the dance floor. Now they would really show you what Dancing with the Stars was like. They would glide across any dance floor.”
Jeanette said Tramore in Co Waterford was a “slice of heaven” for her grandparents.
“Their mobile was a home away from home where everybody was welcome. Dinners on a Sunday were his speciality. Always the chef, he would serve up three delicious courses and to this day he still never gave us the secret of his mash. I personally think it was the two pounds of butter he used in it.
Fr Billy Meehan, chief celebrant, said Michael had served his community as mayor and his country as a member of the Army.
“And we all remember the night on Questions and Answers when he told the story of his own life and the impact it had made. From that he got a national profile,“ he said.
“He was speaking out for people who had no voice. That was the great legacy that Michael left.”
Offertory gifts included his People of the Year award, a golf club, a photograph from his time as mayor, his great-grandchildren’s artwork, a newspaper, a candle bearing an image of his “beloved” Mary and a packet of toffees.
President Michael D Higgins was represented at the Mass by his aide-de-camp Capt Pat Fitzgerald.
Mr O’Brien is survived by his children Geraldine, Peter, Martin and Catriona, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and extended family. He was laid to rest at St Patrick’s Cemetery.
As a child Mr O’Brien spent eight years in St Joseph’s Industrial School in Clonmel in Co Tipperary, where he was raped and severely beaten.
He spoke out on Questions and Answers following the publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in 2009. He told then minister Noel Dempsey that he had attempted to end his own life after spending five days being questioned at the commission, where he said his account of being raped and beaten was questioned.
“They brought a man over from Rome, 90-odd years of age, to tell me I was telling lies, that I wasn’t beaten for an hour non-stop by two of them from head to toe without a shred of cloth on my body.”
Broadcaster John Bowman, who presented the show, said Mr O’Brien’s words had “a greater impact than any other contribution from the audience in the history of the programme”.
