Travel agent who 'sold sun' and Claremont Stadium founder
OBITUARY: Liam Byrne
Liam Byrne, the man who sent many people in Navan and Meath on their first sun holiday, has been laid to rest in his native town.
The retired travel agent died at Beaufort House Nursing Home, Navan, on Sunday 1st May last.
His funeral paused at the iconic round window of his travel agency on Railway Street as it made its way from St Mary's Church to St Mary's Cemetery, described as the "round window on the world" by Fr Robert McCabe, CC, Navan.
From St Brigid's Villas in Navan, Liam worked at Navan Post Office, before he went to London, where he worked for British Rail, at Euston Station, and got a taste for travel, and later with KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines.
In 1964, he joined World Travel in Dublin, and in 1966, he was appointed manager of International Travel Bureau Ltd in Westmoreland Street, Dublin.
Liam then spent nine years as manager of the Four Seasons Travel Agency on Watergate Street, Navan, before a brief stint as manager of the Drogheda-based Globe Travel.
Immediately before opening Liam Byrne Travel on Railway Street, Navan, in 1978, he held a senior executive position in the commercial division of Noel Martin Travel Ltd in Dublin.
The iconic office on Railway Street was designed by Navan architect Paul Leech, and built by Tom Rattigan, with auctioneer John Leech associated with the business.
Liam Byrne's travels around the world saw him acknowledged as one of the most expert travel agents in the country, as well as one of the most courteous. In 1974, he was one of a party of 10 Irish travel agents invited to tour the then Soviet Union by British Airways, on their first agents educational tour to that vast country.
In 1975, with Four Seasons Travel, he was selling seats on the special Aer Lingus flight for pilgrims attending the canonisation of St Oliver Plunkett in Rome.
A decade later at Liam Byrne Travel, he was the first in Meath to join the Timas worldwide computer system network, linked to the Galileo system, one of the largest computer networks in the world, of which Aer Lingus and British Airways were founder members.
It was the era when travel abroad was becoming much more popular, but before the advent of the internet and mobile phone apps. The telephone itself was a only becoming common at the time. "We sell sun" was his slogan.
He guaranteed any holidays where tour companies might go out of business when clients were on holiday.
Liam Byrne was active in the parish and community, as a member of the Legion of Mary, Rotary Club, the Rathkenny Revels, Parkvilla Football Club, and as a founder of Claremont Stadium.
Extending sympathy to the family, Claremont said it was deeply saddened by the passing of one of its founder members. The Byrne Suite in Claremont Stadium was named after Liam, Teddy and Robbie Byrne in honour of their contributions to the stadium.
Liam served as secretary of Parkvilla Football Club for 12 years until 1980, when he had to step down due to business commitments. However, at the annual meeting that year, he was elected chairman in place of his brother, Teddy. This post was short-lived as he found he was just as busy as chairman, and stood down in September of that year. Liam supported London football club, Arsenal.
Parkvilla FC extended sympathy to the Byrne family.
Fiona Daly-Perez, president of the Rotary Club of Navan said: "Liam was a long-standing and dedicated member of Rotary Club of Navan where he served as treasurer, president and also received a Paul Harris Award for his work."
He was president in 1993-'94 when he handed over to the recently deceased John Smith.
A frequent letter writer to the Meath Chronicle on issues such as the Navan hospital campaign, and the erection of mobile phone masts around the town, he was elected vice-chairman of the Navan anti-mast committee in 1999, the chief aim of which was to fight the proposal for an Esat Digifone mast in the Railway Station area of the town.
Predeceased by his parents, Thomas and Marcella, Liam is survived by his brothers, Teddy and Jimmy; sister, Mary Mitchell; nephew, Duncan; nieces Janice, Edel, Angela, Catriona, Marcella, and Carmel; sister-in-law, Kathleen; grandnephews, grandnieces, relatives and friends.