Charlie Bird remembered as man whose hand of friendship reached deep into the psyche of the nation

Hundreds of people gathered at the Round Room of the Mansion House in Dublin today to pay their respects to the veteran RTÉ journalist who died of Motor Neurone Disease on Monday.

Charlie’s eldest daughter Orla said she and her sister Neasa grew up with a dad who had an extraordinary career.

“It's almost impossible to know where family life ended and career started because it was such a big part of all of our lives. The news was a permanent fixture in our home, so the two are closely intertwined,” she said, remembering days when the phone would ring at all hours of the day or night and Charlie would throw some stuff in a bag and run out the door, and they would only know where he was when his face would appear later on the television.

She also remembered the weekly Sunday walks that were a “non-negotiable family activity” that carried on much to their horror into their teenage years, and the family holidays with Charlie and their mother, where they would pack the car and head to France and arrive at a campsite.

“We would happily watch-on as dad sweated and muttered swear words under his breath as he tried to pitch the tent, until finally he’d blow his top, causing much amusement for us all. It would end with an aperitif in hand eating our favourite tinned ravioli, and somehow we always ended up sleeping safely in that tent,” she explained.

“As we grew into teenagers, we started to spread our own wings. We both went to art college. We travelled on J1s to the States and Dad would always write letters in his barely legible hieroglyphics that would take us a couple of re-reads to actually make any sense of. He’d always put in a couple of quid and tell us not to spend it all in the same shop. And he signed it off always by telling us to ‘keep smiling’.

Orla also told of her and Neasa being very careful if they were bringing a boy home, or drop a name of one into a conversation, because their dad would raise an eyebrow and steal a glance in their direction.

“You just made sure you were seriously interested in someone before you brought them home. On one occasion, after a Debs when I arrived with a particularly handsome date, the key barely entered into the door and dad appeared with his wide eyes saying everything that needed to be said as he immediately showed our guest to the front sitting room of our house to sleep on a sofa that was overlooked directly from a balcony that led to our parent’s room,” she said to laughter from those gathered.

Neasa Bird made everyone curious by saying that Orla’s Debs date is now a famous Hollywood star, but kept everyone guessing by not revealing his name.

Neasa said that her father's motor neurone disease diagnosis was his "worst fear realised" and said he was "devastated and afraid".

"Watching Dad grappling with that was heart-breaking, and as we frankly admitted to him on more than one occasion, all the more difficult for the very public way he chose to deal with it.

"But that was Dad's way, and as much as we might have wanted to retreat with him to a more private space in the last few years, the tenacity of spirit and the perseverance which saw Dad achieve so much meant that he was always going to do it his way.

"In doing so, he inspired and gave solace to countless others, and that is no small thing. Rather, it is a very great thing."

She said on the day before he died, Bird "painstakingly typed out a final message" about courage and a fear that his courage would falter.

"But Dad's courage did not falter because his courage, his amazing bravery and, ultimately, his legacy is the way that he showed us all that it is okay to despair.

"It is okay to be afraid. It is human to be angry when dealt with a hand like MND. It is okay because as he also showed us after all of that, or more accurately in the midst of all of that, there is still purpose, there is still joy, and there is still hope."

Charlie’s wife Claire Mould began to deliver her memories of him when their dog Tiger started to whimper, so she brought him to the podium too.

She said she was "heartbroken" at his death and that it was an "absolute privilege" to look after her husband during his illness.

"What made me fall in love with Bird was his zest for life. There was never a dull moment when you were with him.

"He always loved being the centre of attention, loved all the craic. He travelled the world, always looking for adventures, and we had so many.

"I love you Bird, I'm going to miss you so much,” she said, before playing a poignant video with a montage of clips from his life at home and in his fundraising endeavours, overlaid to the song ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’ by Bruce Springsteen.

Charlie Bird's funeral takes place in Dublin

Former RTÉ correspondent Joe O’Brien told the service that his friend had his own “dynamic style of reporting”.

“Audiences grew to admire and respect the clarity and forcefulness of this delivery. When I think of Charlie, I think of his boundless energy and his nose for news,” he said.

“He had great people skills. He was witty and cheeky and he was also honest and forthright. But Charlie was brave beyond words: Charlie revelled in the excitement of factfinding and live broadcasting and in his secret hush-hush meetings along the border.

“But what I treasure most is our daily coffee and our strolls around the Donnybrook campus. We had many a relaxed Friday night drink when he talked about family, world affairs, his passion for Irish politics and his fascination with the internal politics of RTÉ,” he said.

Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lt General Seán Clancy, said he really got to know Charlie and Claire in the lead-up to his Climb With Charlie event to the summit of Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo two years ago.

“In that period, I came to know Charlie, what he stood for, his values, his resilience, his fortitude, his determination and his overwhelming loyalty to his family, to Claire, to his daughters, to his grandchildren, to so many of his friends.

“It was in this timeframe also, of course, that Charlie chose to support certain charities by selflessly dedicating the remaining years of his life, utilising those extraordinary journalistic skills that he had, but more importantly, his ability to build relationships. And of course, we all know by his extension of his hand of friendship to everybody.”

“The catalyst and the centre of gravity for Climb With Charlie was, of course, the man himself. And its impact, I have no doubt, will transcend time and will live with all of us in our memory and in our hearts, because that day was simply special. But what strikes me most about that extraordinary time and the last few years is that despite the fact that Charlie had lost his voice I don't think he was ever more heard,” he added.

“His hand of friendship reached deep into the psyche of the nation. At a time of great void, a time of great vulnerability, a time of great need, a time of Covid-19, and that was a time we're all very grateful for.”

“It was a privilege for us all to know Charlie Bird, in particular in the latter part of his life when he gave us his camera to look deep into his world through an MND lens, a world is that it was a privilege to be let into even if for a brief moment,” he said.

Fr Charlie McDonnell was parish priest in Westport when Climb With Charlie took place, and he blessed Charlie’s wicker coffin, and said not only did Charlie climb the mountain, but he brought the country with him.

“He brought the country with him on his climb, not just of that mountain, but of the mountain he was climbing in his own life. A mountain towards death. He did it his way, and his way came at a price to him and those close to him. And yet in his giving, he never gave up,” he added.

Other speakers included former RTÉ journalist and presenter Sean O’Rourke, who highlighted the different news stories that Charlie covered at home and abroad; Stardust campaigner Antoinette Keegan who thanked Charlie for supporting their cause for 43 years and for his constant support; and LGBT rights activist Karl Hayden.

Series Editor of TV News in RTÉ, Dympna Moroney, and former Chief News Editor Ray Burke also spoke of working with Charlie, and the challenges it would sometimes present.

Ms Moroney told one tale of working on one project with him when suddenly he got a call from a contact and he had to leave her to go and meet this man in a dark car park in town.

“He locked me in the car and ran off saying ‘if I’m not back in 20 minutes, first ring the newsroom, then ring the Guards’. Despite all the bickering we never fell out, and at the end of the day he’d just say ‘Come here, give me a hug, and let’s move on’,”.

Symbols of Charlie’s life presented by his grandchildren were a set of rosary beads given to him by singer Daniel O’Donnell, the staff he used when he climbed Croagh Patrick, a Bruce Springsteen book and a hand-painted postcard by RTÉ colleague Joe Duffy, two biographies of his life, and a photograph of him with his grandchildren.

His favourite Bruce Springsteen song, ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’, was played before singer and musician Kevin Conneff sang The Parting Glass.