Joan announced her departure from ‘Fair City’ in January after announcing that she had contracted motor neurone disease the previous year. She appeared on ‘The Late Late Show’ on the 23rd January 2009 with her husband, Willie, to discuss her condition with many of her ‘Fair City’ colleagues also present to pay her warm and heartfelt tributes.

Jane Gogan, Commissioning Editor of RTÉ TV Drama said “It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of Joan Brosnan Walsh. She has been at the heart of ‘Fair City’ for the last twenty years and was without doubt one of its most popular characters. She was also one of the most warmly regarded colleagues in RTÉ and will be greatly missed by the ‘Fair City’ cast and crew and all who worked with her in RTÉ, as well as her host of fans throughout the country. On behalf of RTÉ I would like to extend my sincere sympathies to Joan's family."

The cast of ‘Fair City’ also paid their former colleague tribute, stating “She was warm and lovely in person, a consummate professional and a delight to work with,” it said. “A talented actress, singer and artist who bore her illness with incredible dignity, she will be very much missed around Carrigstown.”