‘Lord take him by the hand and bring him home’ – moving tributes paid to Shay Healy

John McColgan, founder of Riverdance, said a “quiet prayer” for his friend, the Irish songwriter and broadcaster Shay Healy after he died following a “hard-fought battle” with Parkinson’s.

Mr McColgan first met Shay Healy in the 1960s and said they remained friends ever since. Speaking on the Brendan O’Connor radio show, he spoke of how he saw Mr Healy for the last time on Tuesday, April 6.

“I was let into his room because he wasn’t well enough to get out of bed and it was the last time I saw him,” Mr McColgan said. “I knew when I saw him that he wasn’t long for this world and I said a quiet prayer to the Lord – please take him by the hand and bring him home.”

Shay Healy was best known for writing the Eurovision Song Contest winner, ‘What’s Another Year’, sung by Johnny Logan.

Mr Logan also paid tribute, recalling his “funny and quirky way of looking at life”. He said Mr Healy once told Fr Brian D’arcy that “‘A good country song has to have a mother, religion and tragedy in it.’ That was Shay, he was just hilarious.”