Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

At the outset, I join in the welcome to Anne and Amy here from Chicago. I welcome Billy's two sisters, Mary and Helen, his brother-in-law, Kieran, his family and friends, Maura Óg and Karl, as well as his former PA, Tracy Young. Indeed, I welcome Professor Niamh Brennan and former Senator Ian Marshall, whom I had the privilege of serving with and came to admire greatly. I also welcome the leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Ivana Bacik, and Deputy John Connolly. I welcome all of them to the Gallery. The array of people who have come to the Gallery speaks for itself.

In my few words, I propose to look first at Billy's extraordinary achievements, which are beyond anything average, and then I will talk a little about Billy the person and individual. Billy moved to Chicago in the nineties and became a champion of the undocumented and the weaker. While he was a very successful person himself, he was a champion of those who had less opportunity than him. For that work, he received the honour of the freedom of Galway and became a freeman of Galway, which is the greatest honour the city could have conferred on him. In 2016, he was appointed to the Seanad, which again was a huge honour and recognition of his work by the then Taoiseach, who himself had a particular interest in America, Irish-American relationships, etc. That was a very particular recognition.

As was stated earlier, he was a distinguished oarsman and sportsperson. He built a successful chain of pubs and restaurants with Anne in Chicago. On its own, that would have been a huge achievement. He won the presidential distinguished service award - another achievement – and received an honorary doctorate from, I assume, the University of Galway. He was recognised officially in academia and, if you like, in the political world. His business successes were enormous. He was a high achiever across the board, but one who wanted to lift others up with him. He cared about and wanted to do good for others. He was also the president of the Irish Vintners' Association at one stage. He gained recognition both in this country and in America. He was recognised throughout.

I might turn lastly and briefly to Billy the individual, which is really what we want to try to capture and celebrate today. As Senator Michael McDowell said in his beautiful words, we want to convey to Anne and family and make them aware of what we thought of Billy, what he meant to us and what he achieved. I have written just a few words. He was a true gentleman in all that means, in every sphere of his life. He was a very warm and friendly individual. He drew people towards him and he was empathetic. That is clear from his work with the undocumented and everyone else. He cared and he was charismatic. He had a very clear charisma about him, which drew people towards him.That feature would have helped his business success and would have helped all of his successes and make him effective as a lobbyist in America. He had unique human qualities and used them for good. Many people succeed in business in a material sense and are very happy to leave it at that. They may engage in a little bit of tokenistic charity now and again, but Billy went that whole stage further to lift everybody with him.

I was walking up the stairs with Senator McDowell to come to the Chamber and I said we often have had to make speeches and might have had to do a fair bit thinking about what to say. In this case it is a question of editing what you want to say. There is a well-hackneyed phrase that I will finish with but in this case, it fits so well. His likes will never be seen again. Ní fheicfear a leithéid arís.