Many parishioners in Patrickswell and Ballybrown well remember Fr. Michael Irwin, our curate for a brief period in the 2000s, and were saddened to learn of his recent death in the week before this Christmas just gone. May he rest in peace.

We welcomed Fr. Irwin as curate to our Parish of Patrickswell-Ballybrown in September 2004 when he took over from Fr. Brendan Murphy who was appointed Parish Priest of Feenagh-Kilmeedy after serving for fourteen years in Ballybrown. Fr. Irwin’s time amongst us was only two years before he was called in September 2006 to move back along the road to the Parish of Kilcornan. On his retirement in 2016 he continued to help out around the Diocese and made several visits to our parish during that time to celebrate Mass and renew old acquaintances. Fr. Irwin was a quiet, unassuming and very religious man, remembered with great affection by all who knew him. We extend our sincere condolences on his death to his large extended family and to his many confreres in the Columban Fathers. He will be sadly missed too by Bishop Brendan Leahy and the priests and religious of the Diocese of Limerick as well as the parishioners of the many parishes in which he ministered.

(09/01/2023)