Gay Byrne: A giant of Irish life who shaped Irish society
Inside Politics: The Late Late Show and influential radio show were anything but light entertainment

The late Gay Byrne: a giant of Irish life. Photograph: Eddie Kelly/The Irish Times
Who will we have to remind us the country is “banjaxed” now the great Gay Byrne, who dominated Irish broadcasting for 40 years, is gone?
“Shouldn’t they give him a State funeral?” wondered a colleague rhetorically. We all knew they couldn’t, but such has been his influence in shaping Irish society, and indeed Irish politics, that if any ‘civilian’ deserved it, he certainly did.