Standing ovation as  Ted Tynan announces plans to step down from Cork City Council

Worker’s Party councillor Ted Tynan received a minutes-long standing ovation after he announced that he was to step down from Cork City Council after a political career spanning five decades.

Mr Tynan, 83, has been unwell since the start of this year, and apologised on Monday night that his voice was hoarse “as a result of ill health”.

He was first elected to Cork City Council in 1979, serving one term before his return in 2009 to a seat he has retained since. His party colleague Jerrica Struthers is set to be co-opted into his seat at the June council meeting.

The Worker’s Party councillor handed in his official letter of resignation at Monday night’s council meeting.

He said at the meeting: “It’s something I’m not happy about, retiring from the council, but I have no choice other than to take notice of the advice of my doctor.” 

Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy said: “I know it’s a very difficult decision for you to make, but your health is a priority.” 

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran, who works with Mr Tynan on the north east ward, said the news of his retirement was “a shock”, and told him “this city is much more the wealthy for your work, and your being here.” 

Fine Gael’s Joe Kavanagh, also a north east ward councillor, recalled when he met Mr Tynan in 2011 after he had been elected. “You said to me, ‘Joe, you’re a really nice fella, but you’re in the wrong party’.” 

Fianna Fáil’s Terry Shannon said: “There’s nothing that we agreed on, but I never doubted Ted’s commitment to his constituents, to the city of Cork and to his own beliefs.

“You’ve championed some very good causes, you stood up and you were unapologetic and rightly so, whether we agreed or not. We will be a lesser of a council with Ted Tynan’s departure.” 

'End of an era'

People Before Profit’s Brian McCarthy said that “it really feels the end of an era.

“I’ve seen the work that you’ve done, the activism. You have been an incredible representative of your party constituents and socialism, an advocate for the oppressed, and you have never backed down no matter what.

“I’ve learned a lot from you, and though I’m looking forward to working with your successor, I’m really going to miss having you here.” 

Council chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan agreed, saying that “we too feel it’s the end of an era.

“It’s a fair trick to hold a very different political view but to remain held in such high regard by all of us in the executive. You pull that off every time.” 

She described him as “tireless, very principled but so respectful and such a decent person with a level of wisdom”.

Mr Tynan told The Echo: “I’ve found the whole experience in public life very rewarding, particularly when I meet people who have been badly treated by the system.

“I fight for those people, and to get success for them makes it worthwhile.”