Mills’s mother, Winifred (née Wills), is from Inchicore and her father, Thomas, is from Glanmire, County Cork. Her father works for Great Southern Railways. She has three siblings, Gertrude, Ada and Robert. Her mother dies when she is just eighteen months old, leaving her to be raised by her maternal grandmother, Charlotte Wills, who lives at 1 Abercorn Terrace, Inchicore. She is educated at St. Vincent’s Industrial School, Goldenbridge, where she plays table tennis and association football as well as doing gymnastics. However, camogie is her first love, which she starts playing at age five. She leaves school at a young age, and goes to work in Lamb’s jam factory.
Through her father, Mills is able to participate in and avail of the sporting activities in the GSR Athletic Union. Two pence per week are deducted from the worker’s wages to go toward the financing of the sports activities in the Railway. In 1947, she marries George Hill. They run the Red Seal Handbag Company from the North Circular Road, and later Hill Street. Later they become vintners, running the Seventh Lock public house on the Grand Canal, Ballyfermot.
Mills makes her camogie debut with the Great SouthernRailways club in Dublin in 1938 at the age of fourteen, and is promoted to the senior team for her second match. Three years later she makes her debut for Dublin while still sixteen and plays in Dublin’s unsuccessful 1941 All-Ireland Senor Camogie Championship final against Cork, winning her first All-Ireland medal after a replay against Cork a year later in the 1942 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final.
In 1943, the same counties meet in the All-Ireland final for the third consecutive year. Once again Mills ends up claiming an All-Ireland medal, her goal from fifty yards range being described as the highlight of the match. The following year, 1944, brings a third All-Ireland medal. In 1945 and 1946, a dispute in the camogie association keeps Dublin out of the All-Ireland championship in spite of being Leinster champions in both years. In 1948, Dublin is back on form and Mills captures a fourth All-Ireland medal. She takes no part in the 1949 championship, however, the 1950s brings much success to Mills.
From 1950 to 1955, Mills captures six consecutive All-Ireland titles. In 1956, “the Dubs” surrender their crown to Antrim but it is soon reclaimed in 1957. In 1958, she is appointed captain of the Dublin camogie team. Led by her, Dublin defeats Tipperary to capture yet another All-Ireland title. She captures three more All-Ireland medals in 1959, 1960 and 1961. The occasion of the 1961 final is special as it is her 38th birthday and her last outing in a Dublin jersey.
In her playing days Mills is regarded as one of the all-time greats. She is regarded as camogie’s first superstar she has often been described as the Christy Ring, Mick Mackey, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher of the camogie world. With a haul of fifteen senior All-Ireland medals, she is the most decorated player in the history of Gaelic games at the time of her retirement. Since then Rena Buckley and Briege Corkery have won more than Mills.
Mills-Hill dies on August 11, 1996, from undisclosed causes, at her home on the Naas Road, Dublin. She is buried in Palmerstown Cemetery. In 2010, the camogie trophy for the annual inter-county All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship is named in her honour. The Kay Mills Cup is a replica of the O’Duffy Cup. A plaque to Mills is erected at her former home, 1 Abercorn Terrace, Inchicore.
Johnny Lyons, the long-time sports presenter and editor at 98FM, is found dead at his Dublin home on the evening of August 19, 2015. The 49‑year‑old broadcaster had been away from work for several weeks recovering from a broken ankle and was expected to return to the air the following week.
Friends become concerned when they cannot reach him, prompting a search of his apartment in Dublin city centre, where his body is discovered. The cause of death is not immediately known, but 98FM confirms he died suddenly and peacefully.
Lyons joins 98FM in 1996 and serves as the station’s Sports Editor for nearly two decades. He is best known for hosting the popular Sunday morning show Now That’s What I Call Sport (9 a.m.–10 a.m.) and also presents Premier League Live on Today FM. His distinctive voice, passion for soccer, and larger‑than‑life personality make him a familiar and beloved figure in Irish sports broadcasting.
The news of Lyons death shocks colleagues and fans across the media and sporting worlds. 98FM’s management describes him as “the backbone of our sports team” and “a great friend.” The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) praises him as “a great football man who really understood the game” and plans to pay tribute at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium during the following month’s match against Georgia. Tributes pour in from fellow broadcasters, politicians, and sports figures, with some calling him “the unmistakable voice of sport in Dublin.”
Lyons’s funeral is held at the Church of St. Therese, Mount Merrion, Dublin, followed by burial at Shanganagh Cemetery in Shankill, County Dublin. The station and FAI both announce on‑air tributes in his memory. His sudden passing leaves a significant gap in Irish sports radio, and his legacy as a passionate, knowledgeable, and charismatic sports voice will be remembered by many.
O’Malley is born on January 18, 1921, in Limerick, one of eight surviving children of Joseph O’Malley, civil engineer, and his wife, Mary “Cis” (née Tooher). Born into a wealthy middle-class family, he is educated by the Jesuits at Crescent College and later at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare. He later studies at University College Galway (UCG), where he is conferred with a degree in civil engineering in 1943. He later returns to Limerick, where he works as an engineer before becoming involved in politics.
O’Malley plays rugby at provincial level for Munster, Leinster and Connacht and at club level for Bohemians and Shannon RFC. His chances at an international career are ruined by the suspension of international fixtures during World War II. It is at a rugby match in Tralee that he first meets Dr. Hilda Moriarty, who he goes on to marry in August 1947.
Although O’Malley runs as a Fianna Fáil candidate, he is born into a politically active family who supports Cumann na nGaedheal until a falling-out with the party in the early 1930s. He first becomes involved in local politics as a member of Limerick Corporation. He becomes Mayor of Limerick in 1961, the third O’Malley brother to hold the office (Desmond from 1941-43 and Michael from 1948-49). He is a strong electoral performer, topping the poll in every general election he runs in.
O’Malley is first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick East at the 1954 Irish general election. Fianna Fáil is not returned to government on that occasion. He spends the rest of the decade on the backbenches. However, his party is returned to power in 1957. Two years later, the modernising process begins when Seán Lemass takes over from Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach. Lemass introduces younger cabinet ministers, as the old guard who has served the party since its foundation in 1926 begin to retire.
In 1961, O’Malley joins the government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance. He is part of a new, brasher style of politician that emerges in the 1960s, sometimes nicknamed “the men in the mohair suits.” It is expected that this generation of politician, born after the Irish Civil War, will be a modernising force in post-de Valera Ireland.
Although his sporting background is in rugby and swimming, it is association football which O’Malley gets involved in at a leadership level, becoming President of the Football Association of Ireland despite never having played the sport.
Following Fianna Fáil’s retention of power in the 1965 Irish general election, O’Malley joins the cabinet as Minister for Health. He spends just over a year in this position before he is appointed Minister for Education, a position in which he displays renowned dynamism. Having succeeded Patrick Hillery, another dynamic young minister, he resolves to act swiftly to introduce the recommendations of an official report on education.
As Minister for Education, O’Malley extends the school transport scheme and commissions the building of new non-denominational comprehensive and community schools in areas where they are needed. He introduces Regional Technical Colleges (RTCs), now called Institutes of Technology, in areas where there is no third level college. The best example of this policy is the University of Limerick, originally an Institute of Higher Education, where O’Malley is credited with taking the steps to ensure that it becomes a university. His plan to merge Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin arouses huge controversy, and is not successful, despite being supported by his cabinet colleague Brian Lenihan. Access to third-level education is also extended, the old scholarship system being replaced by a system of means-tested grants that give easier access to students without well-off parents.
Mid-twentieth century Ireland experiences significant emigration, especially to the neighbouring United Kingdom where, in addition to employment opportunities, there is a better state provision of education and healthcare. Social change in Ireland and policies intending to correct this deficit are often met with strong resistance, such as Noël Browne‘s proposed Mother and Child Scheme. As a former Health Minister, O’Malley has first-hand experience of running the department which had attempted to introduce this scheme and understood the processes that caused it to fail, such as resistance from Department of Finance and John Charles McQuaid. This influences his strategy in presenting the free-education proposal.
Shortly after O’Malley is appointed, he announces that from 1969 all education up to Intermediate Certificate level will be without cost, and free buses will bring students in rural areas to their nearest school, seemingly making this decision without consulting other ministers. However, he does discuss it with Lemass. Jack Lynch, who, as Minister for Finance, has to find the money to pay for the programme, is not consulted and is dismayed at the announcement.
By announcing the decision first to journalists and on a Saturday (during a month when the Dáil is in recess), the positive public reaction tempers resistance to the idea before the next cabinet meeting. O’Malley’s proposals are hugely popular with the public, and it is impossible for the government to go back on his word.
Some Irish commentators consider that O’Malley’s extension of education, changing Ireland from a land where the majority are schooled only to the age of 14 to a country with universal secondary-school education, indirectly leads to the Celtic Tiger boom of the 1990s-2000s when it is followed for some years by an extension of free education to primary degree level in university, a scheme that is launched in 1996 by the Labour Party and axed in 2009 by Fianna Fáil’s Batt O’Keeffe.
In 1967, O’Malley appoints Justice Eileen Kennedy to chair a committee to carry out a survey and report on the reformatory and industrial school systems. The report, which is published in 1970, is considered ground-breaking in many areas and comes to be known as the Kennedy Report. The Report makes recommendations about a number of matters, including the Magdalene laundries, in relation to which they are not acted upon. The report recommends the closure of a number of reformatories, including the latterly infamous reformatory at Daingean, County Offaly.
O’Malley’s reforms make him one of the most popular members of the government. He is affectionately known as “the School Man” for his work in education. His sudden death in Limerick on March 10, 1968, before his vision for the education system is completed, comes as a shock to the public. He is buried with a full Irish state funeral.
Following O’Malley’s death, his widow, Hilda O’Malley, does not run in the subsequent by-election for the seat he has left vacant. It is won narrowly by their nephew Desmond O’Malley. Hilda seeks the Fianna Fáil nomination for the 1969 Irish general election, but Fianna Fáil gives the party nomination to Desmond, as the sitting TD. Hilda runs as an Independent candidate in that election. After what proves a bitter campaign against her nephew, she fails to get the fourth seat in Limerick East by just 200 votes.
Carey is also the first non-UK player and the first Irishman to captain a winning team in both an FA Cup Final and the First Division. Like his contemporary Con Martin, he is an extremely versatile footballer and plays in nine different positions throughout his career. He even plays in goal for United on one occasion.
One of Carey’s earliest experiences as a coach comes when he is still an active player. He takes charge of the Republic of Ireland national team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Ireland loses 3–1 to the Netherlands in the opening round in a game played at Fratton Park. He retires as a player in 1953 and almost immediately accepts the position as manager of Blackburn Rovers. In 1958 he guides the Rovers into First Division. He then becomes manager at Everton but, despite leading them to fifth place in the 1960–61 season, their highest post-war position, he is sacked in the back of a taxi by director John Moores. As a result, the jibe, “Taxi for …!” has become a staple insult offered to any manager facing the threat of the sack. He next manages Leyton Orient and takes them into the First Division in 1962, their only season in the top division. However his greatest success as a manager comes with Nottingham Forest. In 1967, he guides them to the FA Cup semi-finals and to second place in the First Division behind his former club Manchester United. Between 1955 and 1967 Carey also serves as team manager of the Republic of Ireland national team. However he has very little power as the team itself is chosen by a selection committee. In October 1970, he returns to the manager’s role at Blackburn, after a spell as administrative manager. He is sacked on June 7, 1971.
By this time Carey has had enough of football management, and takes up a job in the treasurer’s office of Trafford Borough Council until his retirement in 1984. He continues to visit Old Trafford regularly, and during the 1970s acts as a scout for Manchester United.
In 1934, aged 16, McAlinden is playing for Glentoran Reserves, when after a game against their reserves, he is offered a professional contract by Belfast Celtic. Together with Jackie Vernon, Tommy Breen, Billy McMillan and Charlie Tully, he subsequently becomes a prominent member of the Celtic team managed by Elisha Scott. This team dominates the Irish League in the era before and during World War II. Among his most notable contributions is scoring in the 2–1 win against Bangor in the 1938 Irish Cup final.
In December 1938, McAlinden signs for Portsmouth for a fee of £7.500. He makes his debut for the club against Chelsea and goes on to become a regular in the side. Within six months of his arrival at the club, he helps them win the 1939 FA Cup final, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 4–1. After the outbreak of World War II, he plays three times for Portsmouth in wartime regional leagues, but his first spell with the club ends when he then returns to Belfast Celtic in 1939. He returns to Portsmouth for a second stint in 1946. In September 1947, he leaves Portsmouth once again and joins Stoke City for a fee of £7,000.
Following the end of his second stint with Belfast Celtic and before he rejoins Portsmouth, McAlinden signs for Shamrock Rovers in September 1945. He makes his debut against Shelbourne at Glenmalure Park on September 16. While playing for Rovers his teammates include Paddy Coad, Peter Farrell and Tommy Eglington. During his one season with Rovers, he helps the club reach the 1946 FAI Cup final. However Rovers lose 3–1 to Drumcondra.
McAlinden joins Stoke City in September 1947 for a then club record fee of £7,000. He becomes regular inside forward under manager Bob McGrory in 1947–48, playing in 33 matches scoring just twice against Aston Villa and Huddersfield Town. His lack of goals sees him fall out of favour at the Victoria Ground and he is sold to Third Division South side Southend United in October 1948.
In 1948, Southend United signs McAlinden from Stoke City for a fee of £8,000. He continues to play for United until 1954 and during his time with the club he serves as club captain. He also becomes something of a cult hero among the club’s fans and is remembered as being possibly the best player ever to play for the club. In 1950, he is caught up in controversy after it is alleged that he received illegal payments during his second spell with Portsmouth. As a result, he is suspended for the first two months of the 1950–51 season. In April 1954, he makes his last home appearance for United in a 4–1 win over Queens Park Rangers.
When McAlinden begins his international career in 1937 there are in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland–based Irish Football Association (IFA) and the Irish Free State–based Football Association of Ireland (FAI), claim jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and select players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era, including McAlinden play for both teams.
Between 1937 and 1948, McAlinden makes five appearances for the IFA XI, making his international debut in a 1–1 draw with Scotland at Pittodrie Stadium on November 10, 1937. His IFA XI appearances also include the 8–4 defeat against a Combined Services XI at Windsor Park on September 9, 1944. This team is basically a Great Britain XI and features, among others, Matt Busby, Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton and Stan Mortensen. He also plays against England in 7–2 defeat at Windsor Park on September 9, 1946. He makes his last appearance for the IFA XI on October 10, 1948, in a 6–2 defeat to England at Windsor Park. He makes his first three appearances for the IFA XI while with Belfast Celtic, his fourth while at Portsmouth and his fifth while at Southend United.
In 1946, while with Portsmouth, McAlinden also makes two appearances for the FAI XI. He is one of several players born in Northern Ireland who benefits from the FAI’s attempts to establish their all-Ireland influence. In June 1946, when the FAI organises an Iberian tour, he, together with Jackie Vernon, Billy McMillan and Paddy Sloan, is one of four Northern Irish players called up. He subsequently plays in both the 3–1 defeat to Portugal on June 16 and then helps Ireland gain a surprise 1–0 victory against Spain on June 23, 1946.
In 1955, McAlinden becomes player/manager of Glenavon. He continues playing for an additional year before finally retiring as a player to concentrate on management. During a thirteen-year stint with Glenavon, he guides them two Irish League titles, three Irish Cup victories and one Gold Cup. After leaving Glenavon, works as a full-time scout for Coventry City before taking charge at Lisburn Distillery in 1969. He subsequently guides a Distillery team that includes a young Martin O’Neill to a win in the 1971 Irish Cup. Later in his first season with Drogheda United, he guides them to the 1976 FAI Cup final, only to lose 1–0 to Bohemian.
McAlinden dies at the age of 75 on November 15, 1993.
Traynor is born in Dublin on March 21, 1886, into a strongly nationalist family. He is educated by the Christian Brothers. In 1899, he is apprenticed to John Long, a famous woodcarver. As a young man he is a noted footballer and tours Europe as a goalkeeper with Belfast Celtic F.C. whom he plays with from 1910 to 1912. He rejects claims soccer is a foreign sport calling it “a Celtic game, pure and simple, having its roots in the Highlands of Scotland.”
When the Irish Civil War breaks out in June 1922, Traynor takes the Anti-Treaty IRA side. The Dublin Brigade is split, however, with many of its members following Michael Collins in taking the pro-Treaty side. During the Battle of Dublin, he is in charge of the Barry’s Hotel garrison, before making their escape. He organises guerilla activity in south Dublin and County Wicklow, before being captured by Free State troops in September. He is then imprisoned for the remainder of the war.
In 1936, Traynor is first appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. In September 1939, he is appointed Minister for Defence and holds the portfolio to February 1948. In 1948, he becomes President of the Football Association of Ireland, a position he holds until his death. He serves as Minister for Defence in several Fianna Fáil governments and as Minister for Justice, where he is undermined by his junior minister, and later Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, before he retires in 1961.
Traynor dies in Dublin at the age of 77 on December 14, 1963. He has a road named in his memory, running from the Malahide Road through Coolock to Santry in Dublin’s northern suburbs.
Simpson signs for Rangers from Linfield for a sum of £11,500 in 1950. He spends nine years (1950–59) at Rangers making 239 appearances and scoring 163 goals. He wins three championship medals and a Scottish Cup winners medal with Rangers to add to the two Northern Ireland Football League and two Irish Cups he wins with Linfield. He leaves Ibrox Stadium in 1959 and spends the last couple of years of his career with Stirling Albion, Partick Thistle and (then non-league) Oxford United.
As an illustration of his popularity, in the fictional song “A Trip to Ibrox,” Simpson is credited with scoring twice in a “Ne’erday” Old Firm Derby at Ibrox. Whereby Rangers are 1-0 down at halftime, and Simpson inspires his team to a second half comeback after Willie Waddell has scored an equaliser.
In recognition of his service to that club, Simpson is made a member of the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame.
Simpson makes his debut for Northern Ireland in 1951 against Wales, scoring in the process. He represents his country twelve times in total between 1951 and 1958, scoring five goals. He is selected in Northern Ireland’s squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden but a late injury ensures he does not play at all during the finals.
In April 2015, the feature-length documentarySpirit of ’58 is screened as part of the Belfast Film Festival. It features Simpson prominently alongside the other surviving players (Billy Bingham, Peter McParland, Jimmy McIlroy and Harry Gregg) as it tells the story of Northern Ireland’s journey throughout the 1950s under the managership of Peter Doherty, culminating in the 1958 World Cup.
Con Houlihan, Irish sportswriter, is born on December 6, 1925, in Castleisland, County Kerry. Despite only progressing to national journalism at the age of 46, he becomes “the greatest and the best-loved Irish sports journalist of all.”
Over a lengthy career, Houlihan covers many Irish and international sporting events, from Gaelic football and hurling finals, to soccer and rugby World Cups, the Olympic Games and numberless race meetings inside and outside Ireland.
Houlihan is a journalist with the Irish Press group writing for The Irish Press, Evening Press and sometimes The Sunday Press, until the group’s demise in 1995. He writes the “Tributaries” column and Evening Press back sports page “Con Houlihan” column.
Houlihan dies on the morning of August 4, 2012, in St. James’s Hospital in Dublin. Often considered one of Ireland’s finest writers, he leaves behind a legacy of immense sports journalism that spans over 60 years. A minute’s silence is observed in his memory ahead of Kerry GAA‘s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final defeat to Donegal GAA at Croke Park the following day. His last column, in which he wishes Irish Olympic boxer Katie Taylor well, is published the day after his death. His funeral takes place on August 8, 2012.
Ireland’s president, Michael D. Higgins, leads the tributes to Houlihan, describing him as a “most original writer, with a unique style based on his extensive knowledge of literature, politics, life and sport.” He adds, “He had that special quality and ability to identify with the passion, pain and celebration of Irish community life.”
A bronze bust of Houlihan is unveiled in his hometown of Castleisland in 2004. In 2011, another sculpture is erected outside The Palace bar in Dublin.
John McCredy McAlery, an Irish association football pioneer, is born in Rathfriland, County Down, on November 29, 1848. His accomplishments include organizing the first ever properly organized football match in the history of Irish football in 1878, founding the first Irish football club in 1879, helping found the Irish Football Association in 1880, and wearing the captain‘s armband in Ireland‘s first ever international match in 1882. He is known as the “father of Irish association football.”
McAlery moves to Belfast to learn the drapery business and soon becomes very successful, opening the Irish Tweed House gentleman’s outfitters on Royal Avenue. A talented cricketer in his youth, his first involvement in the Belfast sport scene is helping in the formation of the Cliftonville Cricket Club in 1870, later serving as club treasurer. In 1878, during his honeymoon in Scotland, he witnesses his first ever association football match, and enjoys it so much he decides to introduce the sport back home.
The first match of organized association football on Irish soil is played on October 24, 1878, between Caledonian and Queen’s Park. McAlery invites the Scottish sides to play in the exhibition match at the Ulster Cricket Ground in an attempt to showcase the game to the Belfast crowd. Queen’s Park achieves a 3–2 victory, and more importantly, the demonstration is well received by the locals.
On September 20, 1879, less than a year later, McAlery places an advertisement in both the News Letter and the Northern Whig soliciting for individuals interested in becoming members of the Cliftonville Association Football Club.
The newly formed Cliftonville F.C. side plays their first match just nine days later, losing 2–1 to a team of rugby players called Quidnunces. They achieve their first victory on November 1 with a 2–0 defeat of Knock F.C., a team of former lacrosse players.
On November 18, 1880, McAlery organizes a meeting at the Queen’s Hotel in Belfast between the seven Irish football clubs that have been established at the time: Alexander, Avoniel, Cliftonville, Lisburn Distillery, Knock, Moyola Park and Oldpark. These teams become the founding members of the Irish Football Association (IFA), with Lord Spencer Chichester serving as its president and McAlery as secretary. In an appendix to the minutes of the meeting, McAlery writes: “If the spirit which pervaded from those present be acted upon the result will be a strong Association for promoting the game which we have espoused.”
The meeting also provides for Ireland’s first official football competition, the Irish FA Cup. In the first Cup final of the inaugural competition, played on April 9, 1881, Cliftonville is defeated by Moyola Park. They suffer the same fate the following year, losing to Queen’s Island in the final of the 1881–82 edition. McAlery, who captains Cliftonville while playing at fullback, wins his first trophy on his third try, as his club defeats Ulster to win the 1882–83 Irish Cup.
McAlery does not play much after this, deciding to focus on his administrative role in Irish football. He referees international matches until 1887, and remains the Irish FA secretary until 1888.
McAlery captains Ireland’s first ever international match on February 18, 1882, playing at right back. On a “bittery cold” Belfast night with occasional rain and hail, Ireland loses to the far more experienced England team by a score of 13–0. A week later, he makes his second and final international appearance, captaining his team again as they lose 7–1 to Wales in Wrexham.
Farquhar is assistant priest at Dunsford and Ardglass Parish. He is a hospital chaplain in 1966. He is later assigned to teach Latin at St. MacNissi’s College, Garron Tower, where he stays as a teacher from 1966 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975 he is assistant chaplain, along with Ambrose Macaulay, to Queen’s University Belfast, and finally as Chaplain/Lecturer at the University of Ulster from 1975 to 1983.
On April 6, 1983, aged 42, Farquhar is appointed Titular Bishop of Hermiana and, with Patrick Walsh, as Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor. The principal consecrator is the Bishop of Down and Connor, Cahal Daly, (later Cardinal Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Armagh) and principal co-consecrators are Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland and William J. Philbin (Bishop Emeritus of Down and Connor). During the ordination ceremony, the assistant Priests to Bishop Farquhar are his priest uncles, Canon Walter Larkin and Fr. Thomas Aquinas Larkin O.C.D.
Farquhar’s episcopal motto is “Sapientia Proficere” (“to increase in wisdom”) from Luke 2:52. He takes an active and ongoing interest in interchurch relations and serves as Chairman of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Ecumenism.
In December 2007, he officiates at the dedication of the new altar in the Church of the Good Shepherd in his native parish of the Most Holy Rosary, Belfast, following the renovation programme.
A book titled Inter-Church Relations: Developments and Perspectives, published by Veritas Communications to mark the 25th anniversary of Farquhar’s ordination as a bishop, contains contributions by a number of people praising Farquhar’s work. Seán Brady notes he was “engaged actively in promoting bonds of friendship and understanding at times when it has been far from easy to do so.”
On December 3, 2015, Pope Francis accepts Farquhar’s resignation on the grounds of age. He is at the time the longest serving bishop in Ireland.
Farquhar dies in Belfast on November 18, 2023, at the age of 83. His funeral requiem mass is celebrated in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Ormeau Road, Belfast, on November 23 followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery.
