Naming ceremony for Athlone's Mary O'Rourke Bridge to take place next week

Members of the public are being invited to attend next week's naming ceremony for the Athlone cycleway bridge, which is to be known as Mary O’Rourke Bridge / Droichead Mháire Uí Ruairc.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is due to be in Athlone for the naming ceremony honouring his late Fianna Fáil colleague, with the event arranged for Friday next, May 1, at 11am.

Mr Martin will be accompanied at the ceremony by the Mayor of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, Cllr Vinny McCormack, and Westmeath County Council said the general public were invited to attend.

"The event will mark a significant moment of recognition for the late Mary O’Rourke's enduring contribution to public life and to the people of Athlone and beyond," said the council. "The public are warmly welcomed to attend."

The cycleway bridge opened to the public in August 2023.

A proposal to name it after Mary O'Rourke was made by Cllr Paul Hogan in March of last year, and was unanimously supported by the members of the Athlone Moate Municipal District.

A public consultation process on the proposed name for the bridge was held last summer and attracted 14 submissions in total.

A report outlining details of the submissions was subsequently presented to the councillors, who decided to proceed with the proposed name for the bridge.

Mary O'Rourke was for many years the town's most high-profile political figure and held Ministerial roles in Governments in the 1980s, '90s and '00s.

She died in October 2024, at the age of 87, having spent the previous two years in residential care in Dublin.

Her funeral Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Coosan was attended by a host of dignitaries, including then-President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.