Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

Seanad Éireann was saddened to hear of the loss of Billy Lawless. Those of us who served with him remember him fondly when he served with us as a proud representative of the Irish diaspora and of the 25th Seanad.

Before I ask Senators to make a contribution, I welcome Billy's wife, Anne, and daughter Amy, who have travelled from Menlo and Chicago, which are virtually next door, Billy's sisters, Mary and Helen, and the extended family. Your presence here today is greatly appreciated and we are honoured by your presence.

Former Senator Marshall is here. Senator Michael McDowell will lead off the tributes. Professor Niamh Brennan, wife of Senator McDowell and a dear friend of Billy and Anne, remembers him fondly as well. Former Senator Marshall served alongside Billy on a number of projects.

Of course, Tracy Young worked alongside Billy during his term in the Seanad. Tracy enjoyed her time working with Billy on so many areas of interest, but particularly representing the voice of the undocumented Irish and the Irish overseas. She enjoyed with Billy her time so much that she would be embarrassed to call it working. It was a joy to show up with Billy. If you enjoy what you do, Tracy, you will never work a day in your life.

On behalf of the Seanad, we express our deepest sympathies to you on the death of Billy last November. I know it takes a long time to come to terms with a loss, but we rarely have tributes to former Members. There are a lot of former Members of Seanad Éireann and the Leader has tributes to them in the week where they pass away, but to have a sitting of the House is something which happens for very few.

Of course, Billy, being from Galway and born in the 1950s, served his time learning his trade in hard work on lifting dairy cans for a creamery. It was of great help to him while he was a rower because lifting full cans of milk would certainly help your training for rowing, but also founding the Tribesmen Rowing Club in 1976 and rowing at all levels, including the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Sweden in 1987. He changed from working in the dairy industry to working in hospitality, which he became literally world famous for, in 1977, buying the Gallows Pub in Galway city - a must-stop place for visitors to Galway - and after that to the Twelve Pins Hotel in Barna.In 1982, he became the president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, but he fell in love with Chicago after visiting with a cousin and emigrated there in the 1990s when things were not going as well in Ireland as they are at the moment. He opened the first of many bars - The Irish Oak - in 1998 and operated many pubs in Chicago, and also restaurants. His championing of the cause of the undocumented Irish in Chicago led him, as ever, to become a supreme organiser. He organised the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition and got more than 1,400 businesses involved in the cause of the undocumented, not just the undocumented Irish but also the undocumented from all over the world who made Chicago and the United States their home. He became a powerful voice in Washington. I heard that myself from US Senators from Illinois and beyond who all knew about Billy. He championed the cause of undocumented people in the United States, which resulted in them getting driving licences in Illinois. That is one of his lasting legacies.

Billy was then appointed to the 25th Seanad, which he entered in 2016. He was the first Irish emigrant to be appointed to the Oireachtas as a representative of the largest Irish community in the world - the Irish community not living in Ireland. I hope they did not all phone at the one time because it certainly would have kept Tracy very busy if they had. Billy became a freeman of Galway in 2015 and earned the presidential distinguished service award for Irish community supports, which he richly deserved. The citation in the honorary degree he got from the National University in Galway stated:

Billy Lawless is one of those unselfish Irishmen who refused to pull the ladder up after him after making it in America. Instead, he committed himself – heart and soul – to helping those Irish, and indeed all undocumented, obtain legal status.

To all those who knew Billy, ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Anois, his good friend, an Seanadóir Michael McDowell.