‘A storyteller who never wished to be the story’ – Mourners gather for funeral mass of journalist Michael O’Regan

Mr O’Regan, who spent most of his career as a journalist with The Irish Times died last Sunday.

In attendance at the ceremony were colleagues from The Irish Times as well as media figures including Vincent Brown and RTÉ broadcasters Miriam O’Callaghan, Katie Hannon and David McCullagh.

Politicians were also in attendance, including Danny Healy-Rae and MEP Frances Fitzgerald as well as former minister Shane Ross and former senator Máiría Cahill.

President Michael D Higgins who earlier in the week paid tribute to Mr O’Regan, was represented at the funeral mass by Commandant Deirdre Newell.

A proud Kerry man, the county flag was draped over the coffin as the hearse arrived at the Holy Cross Church in Dundrum on Saturday morning.

The Kerry flag was later brought up to the altar as one of the items used to represent Mr O’Regan’s life. Flowers were also brought forward as a symbol of his love of nature and walks in his local and much loved Marley Park.

A newspaper symbolised his career in journalism, while a book was included to demonstrate his love of literature and reading.

During the eulogy, Mr O’Regan’s daughter Deirdra told those in attendance how she knew from an early age that her dad “wasn’t an ordinary dad”.

“My dad was undoubtably a huge intellect but better than that he was very passionate. He wasn’t a generalist but get him talking about Irish politics and history, or even better the politics and history of his native Kerry, he would light up,” she said.

She spoke of her and her sister Alyson’s memories of their father at home with his typewriter, “holed up in his office, tapping away to meet a deadline”.

“He was an interested observer and storyteller who never wished to be the story,” she said.

She described how despite his passion for history, her father was very forward thinking and told how she helped Mr O’Regan set up his Twitter account “back in the day”.

The platform went on to be “a huge platform for him” and was company for Mr O’Regan during his illness and “an isolating pandemic”.

His daughter said that “despite moving in circles of power and influence”, Mr O’Regan was “always happy to be the butt of the joke”.

“My dad never took himself too seriously. He was self deprecating and always happy to be the butt of the joke,” she said.

Mr O’Regan was described as someone who was not materialistic and was “a man of words”.

“Beyond books and papers he carried around in his Hodges Figgis bag, he wanted for very little, bar a good feed,” his daughter added.

During the ceremony, Fr Liam Belton told those gathered that Mr O’Regan had a great sense of humour and when he became ill in 2018, he didn’t let his illness get him down.

“He made the best of life all the time,” Fr Belton said.