FORMER CORK TD and Minister of State Bernard Allen has died at the age of 79. 

A former Fine Gael junior minister, Allen was first elected to the Dáil in 1981 and held his Cork North Central seat until he retired from politics in 2011.

His time in the Dáil followed a 16-year career in local politics with the Cork Corporation. He also served as Lord Mayor of Cork.

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has expressed his condolences.

“It is with great sadness that I have learned of the death of Bernard Allen,” he said.

He described him as “a pillar of his community, whose dedication and loyalty to the people he served were unmatched”.

“Bernard was a man with endless reserves of wisdom and wit, who knew the perfect time to deploy the right amount of either. He was a beloved colleague in Fine Gael and beyond, a proud Corkman and a good friend.

“To his wife Marie, their children, Lorraine, Audrey and Deirdre, my deepest sympathy at this very difficult time.

“May he rest in peace. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.”

Minister of State and TD for Cork North Central, Colm Burke shared also expressed his condolences, saying that Cork had lost “a most accomplished public representative whose main focus and priority in all of his political career was to look after the interests of his constituents in Cork North Central”.

“Bernard was a true advocate for all the people he represented.”

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he was “saddened” to hear of Bernard Allen’s passing and expressed his condolences to his family.

“Bernard and I got on very well,” Martin said.

“We enjoyed the cut and thrust of local and national politics and worked together on a bipartisan level.

“He put the interests of Cork first, whether in the Council or in the Dáil during his 30 years as a TD.

“A very popular Lord Mayor of Cork, Bernard was a tenacious chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and an effective Minister for Youth and Sport – a portfolio he loved.”