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LAST UPDATE | 10 Jan 2020
HUNDREDS OF MOURNERS gathered today for the funeral mass of broadcaster Larry Gogan at the Church of St Pius X in Templeogue, Dublin.
The 85-year-old, who had worked in broadcasting for nearly 60 years, passed away on Tuesday following a short illness.
Celebrating today’s mass, Father Brian D’Arcy paid tribute to Larry who was “incredibly popular and incredibly humble at the same time”.
“We are sad, but glad Larry is no longer suffering. He is together again with his wife Florrie.”
“The heart and soul of his life wasn’t music or RTÉ. It was Florrie and the family,” D’Arcy said.
The pair met when they were 15 and married at 21. They were married for 39 years and are survived by five children. Florrie passed away in 2002.
“They loved the children and the children loved them. Nothing was good enough for the children,” said D’Arcy.
Larry’s grandchildren, Poppi, Seb, Ben, Zoë, Jamie and Jodie presented symbols of his life to the altar. Among them was his “battered headphones” and a copy of the Irish Daily Star representing his love of pop culture.
D’Arcy said Larry’s gift was the extraordinary things he could do” but he himself remained rooted in the ground, very honest, obliging, happy, easy to work with, professional”.
“He loved fun. He was adored by everyone. We all knew that he was, without doubt, the greatest disc jockey we were ever likely to hear or see.”
He was a hero to everybody. He helped us all on our way. He was so assured of his own ability, his own greatness, that no one was a threat to Larry. And Larry knew that too, which is why he could help everybody.
In a career that has spanned almost 60 years, Larry will be best remembered for his RTÉ 2FM programme The Golden Hour and his Just a Minute Quiz.
“He was a habit of our lives since 1961. I don’t remember a life without Larry Gogan,” D’Arcy said.
“Irish music owes an incredible amount to Larry Gogan. Larry played everybody, he saw good in everybody, they didn’t have to be a big star. Larry Played them and made them a big star.
He was voted Ireland’s favourite DJ in 1964… Talk about becoming a habit.
Acknowledging the recent passing other RTÉ broadcasters - such as Marian Finucan and Gay Byrne – D’Arcy asked the congregation: “Weren’t we very lucky to have lived with such greats?”
“And with a great friend like Larry who could begrudge him with his age, which was always a secret until he died,” D’Arcy joked.
“Never in my life did anyone say a bad word about him to me. I think that’s the legacy of Larry Gogan.”
‘The king of our family’
Larry’s daughter Orla said the family were overwhelmed by the kindness and tributes paid to their dad this week.
“We’ve lost the king of our family. We were truly blessed to have had the coolest and most-with-it Dad and Grandad, better known to you and his grandchildren as Larry but as Lorcan to us, his children.
“Florrie was the love of his life, they never ever fought. We had the most fabulous fun-loving childhood,” Orla said, “after the passing of us his beloved wife he lived for his holidays with all the grandchildren”.
The memories we have are so cherished. We loved him so so much. Not only as a father but as a great pal. He was always there for us. He was never negative. His motto was: ‘there’s always a solution’.
Orla went on to pay tribute to her sister Gráinne who “devoted the last 18 months” to care for their father.
“The care and kindness shown by you to Lorcan was so appreciated and loved by Lorcan, and he loved and appreciated you so so much.
“It made the last 18 months easier knowing you were there for him. Florrie asked you to do one final thing for her, and that was to look after Lorcan. Which you did ’til the very end, you never left his side,” Orla said.
Gogan’s family earlier this week extended their gratitude to Blackrock Clinic, Beacon Renal and the staff at Kiltipper Woods Care Centre for “the wonderful care that he received during his final illness”.
The family added that people, if they wished to do so, could make donations in his memory to the Irish Kidney Association.
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Go to bettystown – laytown beach after a nice day – plastic – cans – wipes – chipper bags – you will find rubbish every 2-3 meters walking along the beach – then high tide comes and washes most out – this is just one beach so no wonder the ocean is a mess . And its adults doing so and youngsters learning from them – the older I get the more I hate the majority of the human race
Society going to the dogs. The selfishness of most of us is disgusting.
‘I care about me, what I want, the way I want, whenever I want. Who cares about anybody else or future generations?’
@Pajo Mata: allowing dogs to take a dump on a beach and walking away is just as bad.
Kids step and swim with it .
Increase fines and enforcement
Hitting pockets hurt most
Common sense isn’t so common after all..
@mark hollywood: Common decency is the problem with these vermin.
A warden should be employed to to charge € 100 Euro to all campers some of it refundable when site is checked and found to be in tact or some such arrangement ,not the easiest thing to do I suppose but it would to clear up the problem or the money would help to clear up mess
A growing problem all round Ireland ,weak legislation on waste management ,lets get professional and employ proper litter warden s with powers for on the spot fines .this should not be left up to those great people that volunteer to keep our country side an beaches clean .people have to be continously reminded littering is not acceptable .
This is what happens when private companies take over rubbish collection. You can’t keep squeezing people and expect them to pay bills they can’t afford. When it’s a decision between food, rent, school uniforms etc… and bins the environment is always going to suffer.
@Mark Jones: hope you’re being sarcastic there
@Mark Jones: you’re blaming private rubbish collection, for people leaving their sh#te in greenland areas and beaches that the’ve visited? Tents , pottys? If they were able to haul all that crap to the area, then they can haul it to the dump, and that’s cheaper than paying for bin collection. You’ll find that ppl who act like this, are the same selfish ppl to cut in a line, or park in a handicap spot etc etc. In other words they just don’t give a f#k
@Mark Jones: it’s more a case of this is what happens why people are selfish pr1cks and don’t care about the environment or society in general. It’s not hard to bring rubbish home with you and doesn’t take any intelligence to consider what it’d be like to turn up at somewhere, imagine the disappointment at finding it spoilt by someone else’s rubbish and not think to bring their own rubbish home so they are ruining it on someone else.
@Mark Jones: really?
@Mark Jones: If they have enough money to go camping and enjoy the beautiful surroundings, eat food, have a few tins and get home again then they have enough money to dispose of their rubbish. You’re some tube.
@Mark Jones:
Bullproduct!
These folk would still leave their litter if they had a gilded council truck doing a daily free pickup.
@Mark Jones:
@Mark Jones: it has nothing to do with that all mark it’s the persons choice to go camping they can manage to carry all the goods there full no issues so could bring them home too there is enough free bins at service stations and most towns they could put rubbish in without bringing it home
Some clown left a carrier bag of rubbish on the ground at a service station that I used to deliver to. Myself and the owner went through it and found identifying items and he was also on CCTV. Litter warden came around, called to yer man, issued a fine of €125, job done. The crazy thing about it was that the bag was left on the ground only about 10 metres from an empty bin! I make that €12.50 a metre it cost the litterer.
@Ennui Kenny: if they paid it
@Seamus Mac: Well there was a case that came to court of a guy that didn’t pay a fine of €300 for 2 bags of rubbish and one carrier bag. He didn’t bother to turn up for the case (big mistake!) and the Judge increased the fine to €4,000! Even the litter warden looked surprised. Since then which is about 2 years ago I have never seen another litter case come before the court.
@Ennui Kenny: a costly mistake
Not just the beauty spots!! There’s litter everywhere now, people don’t seem to give a crap anymore!!!
@John Murray: people don’t like paying private rubbish collectors lots of money. Bring back council collections and the problem will diminish.
@John Murray: we’ve always been a filthy nation
Guys all over facebook offering cheap rubbish removal. They should have to provide a certified refuse collector number on advertisments
@Tony Murphy: There are people of a certain ethnic background doing that in Cork. They pick up your rubbish and then either illegally dump it ( you get the fine if it’s found by the litter warden) or burn it in skips provided by the council at their place of residence. What people don’t realise is that if your rubbish is dumped up the forestry it is you who is responsible and the fine is for each bag dumped. At €150 a bag that can add up very quickly.
Unfortunately a can pay but won’t pay for anything attitude has crept into our society and here is yet another example of it. It’s disgusting behaviour.
Just a question really and I don’t mean offense, but I really notice that Ireland is particularly bad at littering. It’s absolutely baffling. Do a lot of parents not teach their kids not to throw stuff on the ground? More often than not if I see kids in the park with crisps or lucozade, I know they will throw it on the ground. I get so upset by this and often would go over ask them to not do it just in case they have never been made aware. Where do they think it goes? Would their parents do it in their back gardens? If not then why in public? There must be a reason?
I just hope that the tents, sleeping bags etc which are in good condition are not dumped in a skip but put to use with some organisation.
If everyone just cleaned up after themselves like socially responsible people, we’d have no litter!
Time to arm litter wardens & give them the power to kneecap offenders.
Not new. Has been and will continue to be a problem for long time.
Just Wicklow? Check out West Dublin. Neillstown,ronanstown, all through Liffey valley area, looks like an explosion in a bin factory. My estate in Earlsfort nearby is the same. Feral kids of feral parents dropping bottles cans and all sorts of crisp bags where they stand. And since the property tax, nobody cleans up.
Dubs……
@redhandtyrone: So how do you account for litter in the Midlands, Cork, Galway etc?
The Blessington lakes are starting to look like a halting site with the amount of rubbish being left behind
Why aren’t there forestry rangers and beach patrols working these areas like in the States and Australia? This is why their beaches and camp areas are so spotless ; well that, and the fact that Aussies and Americans actually give a damn. Here, not so much. We are a nation of brats.
So supply more bins in the area. Not rocket science
@pearse: why though they didn buy the stuff from any shop there as there is none in the area . They can bring it back to shop they. BOught it in as most have bins around them
All the litter on all the beaches, I wonder how many litter fines were issued?, if it is very very little then our litter laws are ridiculously stupid, weak, pathetic.
Unfortunately, there are far too many people in this country who don’t take pride in the amenities and landmarks at their doorstep. For example, I was up in The Glen Of The Downs with my better half and was appalled out how much the Octagon near the top was vandalized. Minus the graffiti, it is a truly amazing place. The start of the walkway adjacent to the N11 also had some discarded litter scattered throughout.
This will likely affect the perception of tourists who might view us as a filthy nation due to our lack of care for invaluable resources. While litter, graffiti and other vandalism is also endemic in other nations, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that there is absolutely no excuse for it. The recent brush fires which we have had in light of the uncharacteristically warm weather are another by-product of such carelessness.
In time, we may need to invest in sophisticated CCTV systems in our public parks and other amenities to deter careless patrons who feel they can treat it like a land fill or who are generally negligent towards the consequences of their actions. Bottom line, we need to start setting a positive and clean example to current and future generations to minimize the possibilities of “a minority spoiling it for everyone”.
just bring a black bag with you and toss all of your trash in there. then throw the bag into the car’s boot.
have your say