Bikers and friends pay final respects to Aidan Lynam

Aidan Lynam, who died in a motorbike crash during a charity fundraiser on Sunday, was a one-in-a-million storyteller, a loving husband, and a "very cool" dad, his funeral mass has heard.

Hundreds of bikers from across Ireland escorted Lynam’s coffin along the Lucan Road and on to Esker Cemetery, where the father-of-three was laid to rest on Wednesday morning.

A fellow member of his Dead Ducks motorcycle club, Wayne Hopkins, had told a packed congregation at St Mary’s Church that Lynam was a legendary figure whose first priority was his family.

“I heard of Aidan long before I ever met him,” said Mr Hopkins. “And when I met him five or six years ago he certainly lived up to the stories.”

Fighting back tears, Mr Hopkins said of his friend: “I had in my head he was a typical Irish storyteller, but there was nothing typical about Aidan. He was one-in-a-million.”

Mr Hopkins said when he was preparing the eulogy he sat on the stairs with Lynam’s son Harry and asked him to describe his father. “‘He was very cool,’” was the boy’s response.

Lynam (44) died after his motorbike collided with a car near Kilkee, Co Clare, during a Down Syndrome Ireland fundraiser. The Rev-up4DSI event, which was in its 10th year, had been his brainchild.

Chief celebrant Fr Thomas Kennedy said Lynam was a forthright man, a “great champion of advocacy” who accepted challenges with courage and fought for those unable to fight for themselves.

Down Syndrome Ireland chief executive Pat Clarke paid tribute to his energy and enthusiasm. “He was also a pain in the rear,” he said to laughter - “a hard man to say ‘no’ to”.

Mr Clarke said he had spent a lot of time in Ireland and Europe with his friend over the past few years and every time they stopped for the night Lynam would ring to check on his family: his wife Nicky and their three children Jake, Robyn and Harry.

“Aidan’s family was everything to him,” said Mr Clarke. “He spread himself across so many events and causes but at the end of the day he always just wanted to get home.”

President Michael D Higgins’s Aide de Camp Cmdt Louise Conlon was in attendance. Members of the Irish biking community as well as dozens from Down Syndrome Ireland stood and paid their respects as Lynam’s coffin was carried out of the church to the sound of Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’.