Andy was a much-loved colleague and an ever-present brightness in the firmament of Irish motoring journalism. Indeed, his star was much more than just Ireland's, for his path was truly global, and his natural gregariousness made him friends in every country in the world, especially in the international motor industry at every level.A northerner from County Tyrone, he made his home in Dublin many years ago, and also in his beloved west Cork in summers. Much of his life too he spent at far-flung airports, and in transit between them, but his heart was never far from Newtownstewart, where he will be buried tomorrow, Tuesday.
Andy was nothing if not professional in his working life, but he was also a most genuinely friendly man, generous to a fault, and truly considerate of the needs of others around him. He also loved deeply his sister and brother, and particularly his nieces and nephews, for whom he was forever buying little mementoes of the places where he travelled.
As colleagues we will all miss him greatly, as friends we have suffered a heavy loss. We will remember many of his stories of Irish life and politics, and of motoring trips and people, and we now will not ever hear the ones he hadn't told us yet, of which we know there was still a deep untapped fund. Most of all we will miss his ability to make us smile whenever he arrived in our company.
To his family, his friends, and especially to his former colleagues in the Irish Times, we extend our heartfelt condolences.
The skies in which we fly are a little less bright today, and the roads on which we drive are somewhat less interesting.
Brian Byrne.
Trish Whelan.
