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Crowley's last trip to Brussels

January 29th, 2019 11:50 AM

By Emma Connolly

MEP Brian Crowley.

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Poll-topping MEP Brian Crowley is preparing to return to Brussels in the coming weeks for the first time in four years, before he stands down ahead of May's elections. 

POLL-topping MEP Brian Crowley is preparing to return to Brussels in the coming weeks for the first time in four years, before he stands down ahead of May’s elections. 

The Bandon man, who has been in politics for 25 years, acknowledged there’ll be a major void in his life after he quits politics, but said ‘something will turn up’.

The 54-year-old, who was left paralysed from his hips down after a fall aged 16, has spoken for the first time of lying in a hospital bed for the past three-and-a half years and undergoing 30 surgeries to repair skin breakdowns. ‘I genuinely thought the next surgery was going to be the solution, nobody was more disappointed than I was,’ he said.

Brian was controversially expelled from the Fianna Fáil party in 2014 and Micheál Martin and himself haven’t spoken since July of that year. However, in a tribute last week, the party leader said he ‘acted as an inspiration to many people as he refused to allow his disability, following an accident at 16 years of age, to hold him back from his vocation of public representation, in any way.’  

‘I understand that his decision to retire will not have been an easy one, but I also know that Brian is a person of great resilience and great faith and I wish him the very best as he works to achieve a full recovery to good health,’ he said. 

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