The passing of a friend: Liam Cahill RIP

The late Liam Cahill in Woodbine Books in 2019.

There's a thing about life and 'we must have that coffee soon' — life, and death, don't pay attention to our uncompleted human calendars, writes Brian Byrne.

I'm reminded of that today when I hear of the unexpected death of Liam Cahill, former RTE journalist, former political adviser, former GAA enthusiast. And a lovely man, something which will never be 'former' as long as he lives in the memory of those he loved and of those of us who knew him however close or slightly. 

I met Liam first during the 1970s, when I was working in The Hideout and he was an occasional traveller from his native Waterford, both of us with a burgeoning interest in writing. We picked up again when I began working for RTE in the early 1980s, which he had joined earlier and where he served both as economic and political correspondents. In the rush of the newsroom day, he was one of those who always had time for a word with everyone, and who brought a calm but always incisive analysis of the stories and situations within his specialist areas. Liam was a journalist who would never be rushed into an uncompleted story for the sake of a headline deadline. 

Time marched on and we each went our separate ways. But our paths crossed every now and then. I had published a novel set around Tara, a place which Liam had a particular interest in and love for, and we discussed at one stage over coffee how fiction and mythology so often meet. Later, when I was pushing at the edges of the envelope in local internet news, notably with KNN in County Kildare established with my colleague Trish Whelan, he was doing something similar with his insightful An Fear Rua — The GAA Unplugged blog around GAA matters, another of his great loves. When I set up the Kilcullen Diary in 2005, Liam subsequently became a follower even though he was not in any way connected with Kilcullen. Like me, he was just fascinated with the concept of hyperlocal news. Equally I would from time to time dip into his The Twelve O'Clock Blog, a mix of commentary, fiction, and thoughts on life in an eclectic selection of themes. 

He came to Kilcullen again in recent years, specifically to Woodbine Books with his seminal book on the Limerick Soviet, The Forgotten Revolution. And more recently with his latest one on the life and death of a fellow Waterford man in the Spanish Civil War, From Suir to Jarama, Mossie Quinlan's life and Legacy. 

We had exchanged messages in recent times where he 'felt another visit to Woodbine coming on', with the mutual promise that we'd make time for another cup of coffee together. Unfortunately it didn't happen, and won't now. 

I never knew Liam's family. I know he was predeceased by his wife Patricia, and that what are probably lovely family memories are now left with his daughter Susan and his son Eoin. My condolences to them. 

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. 

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