BRIAN CROWLEY, THE former independent and Fianna Fáil MEP, has died at the age of 61. 

The Cork man had long been suffering health complications resulting from a childhood accident that left him needing the use of a wheelchair.

He had been receiving treatment at Cork University Hospital. 

His long-time advisor Manus O’Callaghan confirmed Crowley’s death to The Journal and described him as “one of my best friends in life”. 

O’Callaghan was attending the Cork Person of the Year and said “he would have been here with me today” and that “we’re all thinking of him in Cork”.  

Mr Crowley served as a member of the European Parliament for 20 years before retiring from politics in 2019. He was born in Dublin but raised in Bandon, Co Cork. 

He was a member of Fianna Fáil but had the whip removed by party leader Micheál Martin in 2014.

Mr Crowley was elected as an MEP five times in the Munster constituency, topping the poll each time. 

He fell out with Martin after a failed bid to be the party’s nominee for the presidency in 2011 and ultimately had the whip removed after switching from the generally liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament to the conservative and Eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists group in 2014. 

Martin was highly critical of the move at the time but Mr Crowley later told The Journal there was no bad blood between them. 

‘An exceptional human being’ 

The Taoiseach paid tribute to his former party colleague today, saying he learned of his death “with great sadness” and describing him as “a hugely impressive individual”. 

Martin praised his contributions to politics, noting his electoral success and role as “an impactful legislator” in Brussels who was “deeply committed to his community and his country”.

“Without question he was one of the great vote getters of the modern political era. He had no equal,” Martin said in a statement this morning. 

“Paralysed by an accident when he was 16, Brian demonstrated incredible personal resilience and strength of character. 

“With great natural musical ability and a fantastic outgoing personality, he was the life and soul of many Fianna Fáil Ard Fheiseanna and thrilled many on the musical scene in Shanleys in Clonakilty for many years,” Martin said.

Mr Crowley took that love of music with him to Brussels, where he drafted a report that led to the extension of music copyright from 50 to 95 years. 

Martin said he was also “a person of deep personal faith, which was profoundly important to him as he struggled with the complications arising from his disability in his later years”.

“His loss will be felt deeply by his mother Sally, his family, his large circle of friends and all his former colleagues. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”

Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris he was “deeply saddened” to hear of MrCrowley’s death”.

“He served the Fianna Fáil party and the country with distinction.” 

The current Fianna Fáil MEP for the Ireland South, Billy Kelleher, said in a statement this morning that “Brian Crowley was an exceptional human being who represented the very best of what it meant to be an Irish person”.

“People, in Munster, and especially in our native Cork, respected, admired and loved him. He also had a very special connection with young people and women.

“Brian was a fierce advocate for people with disabilities. In the European Parliament, he led by example and was always a champion for the rights of people with disabilities.”