Carrick-on-Suir bids farewell to a 'great champion' of its people - the late Liam O'Dwyer

The people of Carrick-on-Suir turned out in huge numbers at the weekend to pay their last respects to a “great champion” of the town and its people, the late Liam O’Dwyer, a former showband lead singer who served his hometown as a councillor for 30 years.

Liam from 26 Ard Mhuire, Carrick-on-Suir, who died on Wednesday, December 28, served on Carrick-on-Suir Urban District Council and Town Council as an Independent councillor between 1974 and 2004. He chaired the council on three occasions.

Former council colleagues joined current councillors at a special meeting of Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District on Friday afternoon to pay tribute to Liam.

A vote of sympathy was passed  to Liam’s grieving family at the meeting held in Carrick Town Hall where he was fondly remembered as a “larger than life character” and “great Carrick man”. 

Former Labour Senator Denis Landy, who seconded the vote of sympathy proposal, echoed the contributions of his former colleagues, when he said he was shocked and saddened to learn of Liam’s passing. 

He said Liam’s 30 years service on the local authority  made him  one of the longest serving councillors in the history of the council  in Carrick.

 He believed Liam was born with theatrical skills and stage craft and used them to great effect in his musical career and in Carrick Town Hall’s Council Chamber.

 Carrick-on-Suir Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran Bourke said Liam often called to his office to give him advice and he remembered when Liam was first elected in May 1974, topping the poll after an impressive election campaign involving a huge crowd of canvassers.  

He said Liam served the people of Carrick very, very well and loved being a councillor and particularly loved serving as council chairman. 

 Outside of politics, Liam was a well-known singer who fronted a number of showbands and bands. He was a great friend of the late Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers and toured with the renowned folk group on their farewell tour of Ireland with his own band. 

He was also a great friend of the guitarist and Miami Showband massacre survivor Stephen Travers, also from Carrick.   He performed  with Stephen  for eight years in The Movies and The Sinners showbands.  

In March last year, at the age of 77, Liam released a CD of folk, country and pop songs called Heartfelt, which included two songs, Annie and Daisy Fields, composed by Stephen. It was recorded in his friend Gay Brazel’s studio in Carrick.    

Liam was very proud of the CD as 11 years before he suffered a serious stroke that left him barely able to speak and with little movement on the left side of his body. He had a long road back to recovery and recording, Heartfelt, symbolised his triumph over adversity.

Prior to Heartfelt, Liam sang the folk song The Parting Glass on the Emmy nominated Netflix documentary about the Miami Showband massacre and also recorded a peace song, The Calling, composed by Stephen Travers, which has become the signature song for the Truth and Reconciliation Platform (TaRP), which Stephen co-founded in 2016 to promote peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.  

Liam was also a lifelong member of Carrick Davins GAA Club and served as the club’s juvenile chairman and was a juvenile coach with the club for many years. He also coached GAA to children in many schools around the county. 

He was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Davins Club in November in recognition of his exceptional work for its members over decades. 

The Davins Club said the passing of their “good friend” Liam was a blow to the club and the town of Carrick and paid tribute to the decades of service he gave to their juvenile players.

Hundreds of mourners attended Liam’s funeral at Walsh’s Funeral Home in Carrick  last Friday evening  and St Nicholas Church nearby   the following morning to say a final farewell to one of the town’s most popular and loved citizens. 

Liam’s friends,  singers Mala Raggett, Andrea Ruth, musicians Gay Brazel and Tony Egan performed at the Requiem  Mass. 

The Heartfelt CD, a sliothar and Davins Club jersey were brought to the altar as offertory gifts symbolising Liam’s love for music, hurling and  coaching GAA and the Davins GAA Club. 

In his homily, Fr Jimmy Browne said the town had lost a “great champion”  and described Liam  as someone who had been so much a part of the “life and soul” of the town and community. 

He recalled his first encounter with Liam was to ask him to sing at Ballyneale senior citizens’ Christmas party. Liam’s immediate response of “no problem, when is it on” highlighted how his was a life given for other people whether it was coaching juveniles at the Davins Club where he instilled enthusiasm, hope and dreams in young players or through his work as a councillor where he was only too well aware of the plight of the ordinary person, particularly the poor. 

Fr Browne spoke of how Liam was very conscious of the drug problem in the town and reached out and tried to help others. This was work that involved a certain amount of threat to oneself and who knew what threats he received. 

He also recalled Liam’s great love of music and remembered the great connection he had with his audience at the senior citizens’ party he performed at in Ballyneale.  When he took the microphone, it was like a light went on inside him. 

In a moving eulogy, Liam’s  son William described his father as an “exceptional man” who lived a great life. His number one attribute was his selflessness. 

He said he was in awe at the number of people his dad helped in Carrick through his work as a councillor and he remembered as a boy people calling to their door at all hours of the day looking for help. 

“He had a great love of music and was the ultimate entertainer. He started singing at an early age and went on to have a very successful music career. There are so many stories about his music days. He would sell out a gig wherever he went.” 

William, a former Tipperary Intermediate hurler, recounted how people always wanted his dad to sing Joe Dolan songs. His dad was so proud of the Heartfelt CD and he  thanked Liam’s friends who helped him to get it recorded.

He said his dad had a big passion   for the GAA. He  loved teaching kids the skills of games and he loved the Davins Club. His commitment to the club was “unwavering” and he served on two occasions as its juvenile chairman and coached some of the club’s finest players.  William recalled how his father suffered a heart attack in 2007 and a stroke in 2011, which dealt a major blow to him but he came back from  those health set backs and was determined to keep going.  

He said his dad loved his three sons “beyond words” and they were more like brothers than father and sons. And he was a very proud grandfather. 

His fondest memory of his dad was him critiquing sport, particularly Manchester United soccer matches and “cutting the backs off” some of the top Premier League soccer players. 

 “We will never see the likes of him again. He will never be forgotten,” he concluded. 

In a fitting end to the Mass, a recording of Liam singing Slievenamon from the Heartfelt album, was played as his coffin, draped in the Davins GAA Club colours, was brought from the church. 

Members of Carrick Davins GAA Club and local musicians formed a guard of honour outside the church as Liam’s remains began  their final journey to the Friary Cemetery in Carrickbeg.  Another guard of honour of juvenile members of the Davins Club met his coffin on its arrival at the cemetery. 

Liam is survived by his loving sons William, Ian and Mark, brother Paddy, sisters Joan, Helen, Pauline, Marian, Ermen and Monica, brothers-in-law Donal, Michael, Con, Frank, Tommy and Christy; grandchildren Liam and Tadgh, daughters -in-law Katie and Jacqui, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.  

 A full report on the tributes paid to  Liam at  special council meeting will be published in next week’s edition of The Nationalist