Updated at 2.06pm

FORMER FIANNA FÁIL senator Des Hanafin has died, aged 86.

Hanafin, from Thurles in Co Tipperary, was first elected to the Seanad in 1965 after previously serving as a county councillor, and retained his seat until 1993.

He successfully ran again in 1997.

Hanafin was a chairman of the Pro-Life Campaign and launched an unsuccessful legal challenge against the results of the divorce referendum. Most recently he said that people who intended to vote against the same-sex marriage referendum had been treated unfairly.

Both his children also served as Fianna Fáil politicians – former minister Mary Hanafin and former senator John Hanafin.

In a statement, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin expressed his sadness at Hanafin’s death:

His dedication to public service was passed onto both his children: John and Mary, who both went into public life serving as a Senator and as a Government Minister respectively. I know that seeing both his children achieve high office was a source of great pride to him.

“I want to express my deepest sympathies to Des’ loving wife, Mona and to his children, at this sad time.

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