The late John Naughten ‘was a true gentleman, who always had a smile on his face’

The late Cllr John Naughten, whose sudden death occurred on Friday evening, has been described as “a true gentleman, who always had a smile on his face”.

The Fine Gael councillor from South Roscommon, a brother of Deputy Denis Naughten, had been a member for Roscommon County Council for over 20 years. Two weeks ago he was selected to run for Fine Gael in the upcoming general election.

Fine Gael's Deputy Frank Feighan described Mr Naughten as "a good friend, a great colleague and a good man".

Monksland Town Team said that they were “saddened at hearing of the sudden passing of Cllr John Naughten. John was a true gentleman, who always had a smile on his face. John has worked alongside the team since the beginning and his contribution has been invaluable. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.” 

The Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice, on behalf of the elected members and Roscommon County Council, extended condolences to Cllr Naughten’s wife Breda, his children the Naughten Family and all John's friends “on the sudden death of our colleague John. John was a true gentleman and a great councillor. We are all shocked and saddened by the news of his sudden death yesterday.

“He was a very approachable person and he was the kind of person you could talk too and if there was an issue, he was very supportive of the issues that had to be sorted for the betterment of Roscommon,” said Cllr Fitzmaurice.

MEP Ciaran Mullooly said that he was "shocked and saddened by the news. We met up so many times in St. Mary's Square in Athlone. My thoughts are with his family."

A farmer, aged in his 50s, he was first elected as a local county councillor 21 years ago and was chairperson of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly.

He was recently re-elected to the council in June of this year.