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Irish language activist Aodán Mac Póilin ‘used the many gifts that God gave him', funeral told

The coffin of Aodán Mac Póilin is carried by mourners, including his wife Áine (front right), as it leaves St Mary's Church in Belfast
The coffin of Aodán Mac Póilin is carried by mourners, including his wife Áine (front right), as it leaves St Mary's Church in Belfast The coffin of Aodán Mac Póilin is carried by mourners, including his wife Áine (front right), as it leaves St Mary's Church in Belfast

AN Irish language activist who worked to open the north's first Irish medium school "used the many gifts that God gave him", a priest has told mourners at his funeral.

Aodán Mac Póilin (68), the director of the Ultach Trust, died at his home in west Belfast on Thursday after a short illness.

Born Aidan Poland, he developed a passion for the Irish language after meeting his wife Áine.

Mr Mac Póilin had campaigned alongside solicitor Paddy McGrory for official recognition and funding for the north's first Irish medium school, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste.

The school subsequently provided the template for the expansion of Irish language education across the north.

Requiem Mass for Mr Mac Póilin was celebrated yesterday at St Mary's Church in Belfast, where Fr Alan McGuckian SJ said people were left mourning a "terrible, terrible loss".

Speaking in both languages throughout the Mass, Fr McGuckian said: "Aodán was a man of letters, very very widely read...a man of great integrity. We know that Aodán was a man of many, many parts.

"A man who delivered great service, who did many things and who in a humble and quiet way used the many gifts that God gave him."

Fr McGuckian said that Mr Mac Póilin formed part of a vision which encouraged "everyone to see the Irish language as a treasure which belongs to all of us".

Of his family life, Fr McGuckian said: "I heard about the rock that Aodán was. Aodán was the one who had the answers to the grandchildren's questions....Aodán was a new man before there was such a thing as a new man.

"This is a sad, terrible day and there is no glossing over it, but nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"Somehow we are part of something bigger which carries us through all of these times."

His widow, Áine, said that the diagnosis and progress of his illness had "happened within a very short timespan" and said the family were living with "indescribable" pain.

She told mourners: "Aodán met life's final challenge with sadness but acceptance.

"He had an interesting and full life and touched the lives of many.

"The obituaries and newspaper articles show the high regard in which he was held. The world is a poorer place for his passing.

"For us left behind the loss seems unbearable but I know that we will be sustained by memories of a good man and the support of family and friends."

Mr Mac Póilin is survived by his wife Áine, daughter Aoife, and two grandchildren.