TRIBUTES have been paid to a former Burnley mayor and dedicated community campaigner who has died.

Labour party stalwart Mrs Irene Cooney, a former Bank Hall councillor, was involved with various good causes across the borough.

The staunch Catholic served as the borough's first citizen from 1991 to 1992.

She died last Wednesday aged 91.

She was also involved with Mid Pennine Arts, the Talking Newspaper for the Blind, St John’s Ambulance and was president of the Union of Catholic Mothers.

Ex-Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "Any issue that she fought for would find that they had a fighter that would give more than 100 per cent and she could fight a very tough battle for what she believed in.

“As a personal friend she was always a powerful ally and I am very much saddened by her death."

He recalled how Mrs Cooney, of Queen Victoria Road, helped him to form a women’s section of the Labour Party in Burnley in the 1960s.

"She went on to become a very powerful figure in the Labour party," he said.

He said she was a 'strong voice' for the restoration of the Mechanics and a 'strong fight' for Towneley Hall.

First elected to the borough council in 1973, she represented the Bank Hall ward until 1994.

Before then though she was also a county councillor for the Burnley North division, elected in 1971. Illness forced her to quit in 1989.

Her son Michael, a key figure in the AEU union, also served as a borough councillor for Lanehead.

Even after she left council service Mrs Cooney, and despite failing eyesight, she was a major voice in efforts to save Queen Victoria Road post office from closure in 2006.

Her funeral will take place at St John' Church, in Ivy Street, on Monday from 10am followed by interment at Burnley Cemetery.