Thady Coughlan is a former Limerick City Councillor and former Mayor of Limerick

Limerick

Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

. He is the son of former Mayor Stephen Coughlan

Stephen Coughlan

Stephen "Stevie" Coughlan was an Irish Labour Party politician who served for eighteen years as Teachta Dála for the Limerick East constituency....

. He is the youngest person to become Mayor of Limerick since the ousting of the "corrupt Corporation" in 1842.

Early life

Thady Coughlan was born in Limerick on 3 March 1951 into a political family. His father, Stephen Coughlan, was Mayor of Limerick from 1951–1952 and again from 1969 to 1970.

He grew up on Barrington Street in Limerick city before his family moved to Wellington Place, off O'Connell Avenue. He received his primary education at St. Philomena's National School before attending secondary school at St. Munchin's College. One of his classmates in secondary school was Paddy Madden

Paddy Madden

Patrick Madden is an Irish footballer currently playing for Carlisle United having been signed from Bohemians. Madden plays as a striker.-Career:...

 who would become mayor of Limerick in 1988.

Political career

In 1974, he was elected to Limerick City Council

Limerick City Council

Limerick City Council is the local authority which is responsible for the city of Limerick in Ireland. It is the responsible for local government, sanitation, motor vehicles tax, and social housing.-History:...

 as a Labour Party councillor, while his father was still a member. This marked the first time since 1842 that both father and son served on the council together.

In 1975, he was elected Mayor of Limerick. At age 24, he was a year younger than the previous youngest Mayor William O'Donnel (Mayor in 1890).

In August of that year, he represented Limerick Corporation at the funeral of Éamon de Valera

Éamon de Valera

Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...

.

In October of the same year, he was present at the canonization of Oliver Plunkett

Oliver Plunkett

Saint Oliver Plunkett was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland....

 where he met the then Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI

Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...

 and future Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 who was bishop of Krakow at the time.

Retirement from politics

Thady Coughlan retired from public office in 1979 at the age of 28. He had commenced employment at the Anglo Irish Bank

Anglo Irish Bank

Anglo Irish Bank was a bank based in Ireland with its headquarters in Dublin from 1964 to 2011. It went into wind-down mode after nationalisation in 2009....

 in 1977, and became heavily involved in rugby in the city. In 2000 he became president of Shannon RFC

Shannon RFC

Shannon Rugby Football Club is an amateur rugby union team from Ireland, they hail from Limerick near the banks of the Shannon river. The club is a member of the Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch and as one of the top amateur sides in Ireland has seen many of its players progress to...

before becoming manager of the team in 2001. As of 2007, he was residing in Crecora, County Limerick