A Book of Condolences has been opened at City Hall and online for Billy Lawless, former Senator and Freeman of the City of Galway.
Dangan native Billy Lawless was known for his work promoting ties between Ireland and the US, particularly between Galway and the city of Chicago.
He was a Senator from 2016 to 2020, and had been named a Freeman of the City in 2015, the same year he received an Honorary Doctorate from NUI Galway.
In the United States he championed the Irish diaspora with the cause of immigration reform.
Billy Lawless died in his adopted home of Chicago last Friday at the age of 73. Tributes were paid to the entrepreneur at a meeting of Galway City Council on Monday.
The Book of Condolences will remain open until December 2, and is available online, and in hard copy in City Hall during normal opening hours.
Extending his condolences, Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr Peter Keane said, “On behalf of the people of Galway City, I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the family of Billy Lawless, Freeman of the City of Galway, and former Senator, on his passing on Thursday 7 November – especially to his wife Anne, and children, John Paul, Amy, Clodagh and Billy, and their partners and families.
“A native of Dangan, Billy Lawless played an important role in the civic, political and social life of Galway City and his adopted home in the City of Chicago, where he moved in the 1980s.
“Billy Lawless served the Irish people as a Senator from 2016-2020, and likewise in the United States, championing immigration reform and the case of the 50,000 undocumented Irish men and women living in limbo in the United States.
“As Vice Chairman of Galway/Chicago Sister Cities Committee, Billy was instrumental in nurturing the Chicago-Galway Twinning relationship, and in supporting the Circle of Life Garden in Salthill.
“While he became a citizen of the United States in July 2014, he remains always of Galway – the 29th Freeman of the City, a friend of the city, and one of our own.
“When he was honoured with the status of Freeman of the City of Galway in May 2015, Billy spoke of how easy it was to be an ambassador for Galway – delivering milk with his father to the restaurants and hotels, rowing up and down the river Corrib more times than he could care to remember, milking cows at family lands across from Menlo Castle.
“From simple beginnings, Billy found himself included in a club of people who have had a profound and positive influence in the world in which we live – joining the list of Freemen of Galway City that includes Doughlas Hyde, Eamon deValera, Hilary Rodham Clinton, Michael D Higgins and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy among others.
“Over the coming days, Billy Lawless will be rightly celebrated for his achievements in Galway, in Ireland and in Chicago – thank you Billy for your service, your commitment to the undocumented, and for your continued friendship with the people of Galway City.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam”
