Paul Smithwick – solicitor and businessman who contributed greatly to cross-Border understanding

Born into the ninth generation of a Kilkenny brewing family, Paul Smithwick (1945-2022) had a very varied career as a solicitor and businessman.

Educated at Castleknock College, Paul was apprenticed to Eugene F Collins Solicitors and qualified as a solicitor in 1970, becoming a partner in T.G. McVeagh and Company in 1972. Leaving the latter company, he opened up his own practice in 1976 as Smithwick and Company in South Frederick Street, Dublin, an address which played a seminal role in the establishment of the Progressive Democrats who met there when creating their new party.

From 2007 he reduced his activities as a solicitor, but his recent involvement on behalf of Lord Iveagh in the Iveagh Market showed that he continued to use his legal skills to the end of his life.

If one word was used to sum up Paul's career it would be networking. He was a networker extraordinaire as shown by the packed church at St Mary's Cathedral at his recent funeral. He had the most incredible ability to meet people from all walks of life and, more importantly, to bring them together. These meetings were choreographed into a type of theatrical setting at the many dinners that he gave in Dublin or Kilkenny. At one of his dinners one could find President McAleese and her husband, Martin, mixing with James, Duke of Abercorn, prominent business personalities eating with members of the Garda and the PSNI, chiefs of staff from the Army talking with Grand National winning jockey Willie Robinson, academics discussing hurling with members of the many times victorious Kilkenny team, all of these conversations taking place while the British ambassador cleaned dishes in the kitchen!

‘I’ve written about my pubic hair and drunken adventures so there is a fear of loss of gravitas’

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Hilary Fannin: He was a handsome, gentle boy, a dreamer with a practical streak

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Rosita Boland: Is the Van Gogh Museum one enormous shop masquerading as a gallery?

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Frank Casey – helped many Irish businesses through pivotal role at ICC Bank

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Behind all this bonhomie there was a serious reason for many of these encounters. After Bloody Sunday in January 1972 the relationship between Ireland and the UK plummeted. Trust between the north and the south and between Dublin and London disappeared. Quietly and without fuss, Paul set out on a mission to restore contact between the communities on either side of the Border. Along with the Duke of Abercorn, he set up a group, Bonds of Friendship, bringing together members of the British and Irish armies, the Garda and the RUC/PSNI, to meet in a social setting which fostered greater understanding between the members of these forces during a period when political strains were at their most acute.

These meetings were very much in line with the Smithwick family tradition, one that earlier had seen Daniel O’Connell as a guest of honour at the Smithwick’s Brewery in 1840.

For his work in helping to foster improved Anglo-Irish relationships he was awarded an OBE which was presented to Paul by Prince Charles in Dublin in 2017.

Paul's quiet approach also bore fruit when he helped promote, alongside its founder, Michael Feeney, the Mayo Memorial Peace Park Garden of Remembrance, a project that documented members of the armed forces from Co Mayo, nearly 1,200 people, who lost their lives in both World Wars as well as members of the Defence Forces who died on Unifil duties. Paul assisted on the protocol committee that was established for this centre and was appointed an honorary patron of the Mayo Peace Park. He was also a driving force behind a similar project, led by Donal Croghan, for remembering over 800 Kilkenny born men and women who died in the Great War along with over 2,000 veterans from the same county who survived the War.

Prior to his involvement in this commemoration he had been conferred, in 1975, with the Hereditary Freedom of the City of Kilkenny, for all the work that he carried out on behalf of his beloved city. He was invested as a Knight of Malta in 1976 and over the last decade became very much involved in assisting the development of the Benedictine Community in Kylemore Abbey in Co Galway. He also served as the chairman of the chamber music board of Camerata Ireland. He was a director and chairman of many companies. In 2013 he revived along with his son, Daniel, Sullivan's Craft Beer, an ale the history of which even predated the Smithwick's red ale of 18th-century Kilkenny.

Paul lived life to the very end. Even when facing a terminal illness, the great networker continued to network. In recent weeks, aided by his ever attentive driver and friend Willie Grace, he was visited by over 250 friends who came to say their last goodbyes.

Paul and his wife, Eleanor, suffered two enormous tragedies early in their married life through the deaths of their sons Edmond and Richard. It was Paul’s wish to be buried alongside them and his mother in Foulkstown Cemetery, Co Kilkenny. He is survived by his children Emma, Georgina and Daniel and three grandchildren.