TRIBUTES have been paid to former journalist and public relations guru Sean Power who has died after a short illness.
Mr Power, who was in his 80s, was a former southern correspondent with The Irish Independent and political correspondent with The Irish Press.
A native of Waterford, he was a hugely talented sportsman and won an All Ireland senior hurling medal with Wexford in 1960.
He hurled with Wexford as he was based in the county at the time as a local journalist.
A friend said today: “He was a great guy, a great journalist and part of Cork’s social and sporting life for decades.”
Uniquely, his brother, Seamas, won an All Ireland senior hurling medal with Waterford the previous year, in 1959.
He moved to Dublin from Wexford to work as political correspondent with The Irish Press, later becoming Chairman of the Oireachtas Press Association.
Mr Power relocated from Dublin to Cork in the late 1960s where he married his wife, Mary.
He worked for a time as the southern correspondent with The Irish Independent.
Mr Power then left to found his own firm, Power Communications, which became very successful.
At its peak in the 1990s, his firm boasted some of Cork’s leading companies and organisations as clients.
Mr Power was a close friend of Dr Garret Fitzgerald and, famously, when the then-Taoiseach would visit Cork in the 1980s he would insist on staying at the Power home in Montenotte rather than in a hotel.
Former Tanaiste Peter Barry also became a close friend of Mr Power who was an advisor to the Fine Gael organisation in Cork for many years.
A lifelong sportsman, Mr Power was a very accomplished golfer.
He was immensely proud of his two children – John, who became an Irish cricket international, and Michelle, who manages the Quercus Scholarship Programme at University College Cork (UCC).
Mr Power is survived by his wife, Mary, children and extended family.
Ar dheis De go raibh a hAnam dilis.
Reference
Riegel, R. (2019, January 11). Former Irish Independent journalist Sean Power dies after short illness. Irish Independent. Retrieved from https://www.independent.ie/