[3] He has a special interest in the elderly, and has attracted attention after describing cuts to their care as a form of "euthanasia".
In April 2013, in the early hours, his home was attacked with stones and with spray, prompting police intervention.
[7] He played association football for Swilly Rovers and captained them to the FAI Junior Cup in 1962.
McGarvey was at this time approaching his 88th birthday and broke his own mayoral record set five years earlier.
[5][8][9] As Mayor of Letterkenny, McGarvey - at this stage aged 89 - returned to Germany for the first time since 1960, visiting the Thuringian twin town of Rudolstadt and having a vine there dedicated to him and his wife Marjorie and a plaque erected at a vineyard.