Tribute to Neil Kenny

Neil Kenny was one of the most important people in my life and if you're reading this he was inevitably just as special and just as dear to you as well. He touched us all with his immense passion and indomitable spirit. Neil would never say never and he would never take anything lying down. Whether it was drinking coffee or talking to a customer, his passion always shone through. His attitude to life was strong and positive, he never missed an opportunity. He asked more questions than anyone I have ever met, always searching for a challenge and always looking to challenge, which is why I suppose he and I had so many "debates"! Neil was a fine character, a gentleman of yesteryear living in present day, he had a personality beyond measurability and he never ceased to amaze me with his viewpoints, observations and comments on life. I don't like to make assumptions or generalizations but I'm fairly certain that if you have ever been involved in a conversation or debate with Neil you'll find yourself smiling at the thought of that memory now, and if not, he certainly will be, and you have that memory to cherish. His smile was infectious and bigger than any smile I have ever seen before. He possessed a relentless energy beyond comprehension and a certain noble compassion that could lift an entire room’s mood.
I first met Neil in August of 2005 but I feel as though I've known him my entire life, this is an indicator of his magnetism, or animal magnetism as he would sometimes refer when talking to the ladies. He was like a younger brother to me but with a definite wisdom, intelligence, wit, class and tenacity well beyond that of fellow compatriots of his age. These attributes were only just beginning to morph and transform recently into fantastic ideas, reflections and revelations on business, the state of the world and above all else, pranks and wind ups. Neil would often be at the centre of a veritable office controversy, whether it be taping up a colleagues telephone receiver so that they couldn't be heard on the other end or organising a T-Shirt to be printed for me which read "Not Financially Viable" on my 29th birthday. I successfully talked him out of sticking up photocopied prints of bricks onto our manager, Brian Moore's partition, suggesting that it could be a potentially damning career move, in the end; price dictated that the project would not go ahead so we just went to Houricans, our Friday night escape instead. He made us all laugh, and it was infectious! Whether it was a Jake Stevens impression, or more recently an impression of Denny Crane, the lead character of the American Legal drama, Boston Legal! He had huge amounts of respect for people in power, appreciating how hard they had worked to get where they were and he spoke about the managers and directors of ptsb in the highest regard. Neil wanted to achieve no matter what the task was. A few of his heroes were Michael O'Leary, Duncan Bannantyne, Liam Gallagher, Clint Eastwood, Pete Doherty, Denis Casey and David Guinane and he was very fond of the writings of Hunter S Thompson which undoubtedly provided the fuel and fire for a couple of his wind ups at least. Neil loved films and a few of his favourites were Glengarry Glenross, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Office Space. He often compared our office to that of the sales office in Glengarry Glenross and we would compare the characters of that film with our colleagues in Business Retention. He was passionate about music, not only Oasis and The Libertines but more recently he began to explore other genres and we would regularly swap music online. More often than not, Neil’s headphones could be heard before he had entered the office, that gave me comfort in knowing that he had arrived and that the fun was about to begin.
He was always brainstorming or conjuring up ideas, continually questioning, always wanting to make things better. He would strongly deny that any problem existed in relation to Global Warming knowing that I feel strongly about it and he knew exactly what he was doing. He recently told me that he felt just as strongly about the environment as I do and that he was only trying to rile me up.
One of my fondest memories of Neil was when we went to the Spar one night after a few beers and we noticed a rather drunk chap fondling the bananas. We knew this guy was going to be trouble and I’m still trying to figure out how, but somehow, Neil got talking to the man with a fondness for fruit and things escalated to the street where the Spar security guard was racially abused by the drunk fruit man and in the process Neil had his cigarettes stolen by the drunk. One thing lead to another and in the end two squad cars pulled up along with a Garda van to take away the bananaman after he assaulted one of the officers. Neil and I calmly left the scene after Neil’s cigarettes were returned and shared a cab back to our neck of the woods when the driver commented that it looked like a war zone outside the Spar and did we know anything about what had happened. We just looked at each other, smiled, and said, “That was us”.
We went out for a few beers two weeks ago and decided that we needed a couple of eurosaver cheeseburgers to finish the night off. Neil’s eyes were often bigger than his belly so we tried to find somebody in the street that might be appreciative of a warm burger. We found a woman sitting down under a bank machine and Neil offered her the food but to both of our surprise she turned it down, politely, saying that she was a vegetarian. Neil was extremely kind and very generous and this story just highlights how much humour was involved in his life and I was very lucky to be a part of that and even luckier to have those memories to refer to.
Neil was a family man and he adored Finn, his little nephew. His beloved Sister Ciara, his brother in law Alan, his brother Garr, his dear Mum, Maeve and his idol, Martin, his Dad. He did all that he could to help people and he spoke of his kin with care, devotion and love. He mentioned to me that his Dad recently observed him singing in the mirror as he was getting ready for work and was worried that he might get the wrong idea. I said not to worry! Dad's are used to these kinds of things. He loved his family and he loved life. We would often share jokes about the three legged cat and we spoke about Finn walking just last week.
Neil's ultimate passion in life was flight. He would speak about planes and all things flight related with an unrivalled vigour and interest. So no matter what the captain of my future flights says his name is, I'm going to block it out and pretend that he said "This is Neil Kenny, your Captain speaking".
Rest in Peace my dear friend, adored son, admired uncle, beloved brother and respected colleague we will miss you and you will never be forgotten.