[3] His wife, Betty, served on Louth County Council with him from 1991-99 having been also elected for the party in the Drogheda area.

Their nephew, Paul, twice served as Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council and also as Mayor of Drogheda and is currently a member of the Labour Court.

Bell served with the Local Defence Force (FCÁ) for 29 years, in which he completed a full-time stint on the Irish border between 1969 and 1970 during The Troubles as a senior NCO and had overseen the care of 1,100 Northern Irish refugees at Gormanston Camp in County Meath.

[4][5] It was as a result of his years of service on the Border that prompted Bell to consider suing the state for deafness to his ears.

This prompted considerable embarrassment within the Labour Party at the time of his suit against the Department of Defence as he was their Defence Spokesperson and he was asked to withdraw his case having threatened publicly to rejoin Fianna Fáil at the time.