Longford-Westmeath TD Nicky McFadden passed away on Tuesday, March 25 last at her home in Athlone following a battle with motor neurone disease.

Elected to the Dail in 2011, Nicky was diagnosed with the disease in late 2012, but continued to serve her constituents. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny led the tributes to the popular 51-year-old Fine Gael public representative who was first elected as an Athlone Town Councillor in 1999 before becoming a Senator in 2007.

Nicky's passion for politics grew through her involvement in the election campaigns of her father, Brendan McFadden, who sat on the Athlone Town and Westmeath County Councils for many years, and had predeceased her last November. As a teenager, Brendan won a Westmeath MFC medal with Athlone in 1949.

Nicky had two children, Eoin and Caren.