Paddy Byrne will be remembered for the tremendous contribution he made to his native county

On Sunday next, 7 September, family members, neighbours, friends and former work colleagues of the late Patrick (Paddy) Byrne, Ballywilliamroe, Bagenalstown, County Carlow, will gather at St Patrick’s Church, Newtown, Bagenalstown (9 am) for the Month’s Mind Mass of a man who can justifiably be said to have made an exceptional contribution to the business and industrial life of his native County Carlow.

Paddy passed away, peacefully, at his home on Monday 28 July, surrounded by his loving wife and family. He was in his 89th year and had been in failing health for some time.

Paddy Byrne rose from humble beginnings at Kyle Hill, Graignaspidogue, County Carlow, to become a hugely successful, self-made businessman who led, with his brothers and family, for the best part of half a century, the 1,000-strong workforce spread across the Burnside group of companies, one of County Carlow’s largest industrial employers.

Burnside was established in 1974 by Paddy and three of his brothers; Jimmy, Tommy and Anthony.

After over 50 years existence, the Burnside name today ranks in the top league worldwide in the design, manufacture and distribution of mobile hydraulic cylinders.

The company has rightly been described as one of the true great Irish industrial successes – with Paddy Byrne at the heart of that success.

Educated at Tinryland National School and Carlow Vocational School, Paddy entered the workforce at any early age when offered a position as a fitter’s apprentice with Keenan Brothers of Bagenalstown, structural steel manufacturers, where he was taken under the wing of Johnny Keenan. He took to the work like a duck to water.

The only drawback was the daily bicycle round trip of 40km, in all weathers, from Kyle Hill to Bagenalstown, six days a week.

Paddy completed his apprenticeship and, in time his brothers Jimmy, Tom and Anthony joined him in the engineering factory at Keenan’s.

Paddy next went on to work with the Irish Sugar Company in Carlow at a time which coincided with the company developing Erin Foods, a vegetable processing company producing foods for the retail sector, intended to be an indigenous business designed to give a major boost to farmers’ incomes in the hinterland.

The invention by Paddy at Erin Foods of a cabbage splitter, which took the drudgery out of the processing of that crop, catapulted the man from Kyle Hill from the factory floor to management. The cabbage coring machine brought him, at age 26, to the attention of the upper echelons of management in Irish Sugar’s head office in Dublin and opened a whole new career path for him.

After a couple of years Paddy was promoted to a newly created position of Technical Manager and given responsibility for all operations within the Machinery Division (Armer Salmon), with the exception of the sales area.

Paddy spotted a gap in the market as a result of his own first-hand experience in trying to source hydraulic cylinders for sugar beet harvesting machinery.

And so it was the four brothers decided in 1974 to go it alone in business. The rest, as they say, is history.

The plunge by the Byrne brothers into private enterprise meant taking a big risk. Burnside started out in a very small way, making hydraulic cylinders in a shed at the back of Jimmy Byrne’s house in Ballywilliamroe.

With Paddy as the company’s public face as Managing Director, the Byrne brothers’ ambition and hard work paid off as the industrial enterprise took off. With ongoing expansion, the brothers were, in time, in a position to undertake the construction of a bespoke factory on a greenfield site at Ballymoon, the original factory location which continues to operate at full capacity today.

Over the years Paddy travelled all over the world, opening up new markets for Burnside. Burnside hydraulic cylinders are today to be found on all five continents.

His work allowed Paddy to indulge in his love of travel - he combined his business pursuits on behalf of Burnside with sampling the culture and cuisines of many countries of the world.

Some 25 years ago the Byrne brothers, now part of a highly successful industrial enterprise, decided to carry out a demerger and create three separate Burnside entities as, by now, their children were in adulthood and had become part of the business. Equally so, the market had grown to service a wide array of industries, and each company now had an opportunity to concentrate its skills on specific market sectors and opportunities.

So, it is today there are Burnside manufacturing plants in Ballymoon, Tullow and Carlow town, and in more recent years in Pennsylvania, America, with Paddy and his family owning and managing the Burnside Autocyl facilities in both Tullow and Pennsylvania. Paddy’s son, Pat is MD at the Tullow plant, daughter Nuala Stoiri is Director of Human Relations (HR), with daughter Caroline Kelly as Sales Director.

Separately, Paddy, with his children Pat, Lily and Paschal, established PB Machine Tech, an enterprise which operates in Bagenalstown, producing precision parts and cylinders.

His youngest son, Paul, is head of engineering at Burnside America in Pennsylvania.

Paddy continued to be hands-on as head of Research & Development (R & D) in Tullow until the advent of Covid 19, when he felt the time was right for retirement. He spent the final five years of his life at home in Ballywilliamroe but continued to work remotely and contributed hugely to product and process design and innovation.

And while Paddy’s health failed in those final years, his mind remained razor sharp to the end.

Paddy Byrne will be remembered as a man for all seasons – industrial entrepreneur, inventor, engineer, visionary, author, poet, linguist, intrepid traveller and mentor.

Happily, he saw fit, in the run-up to retirement, to commit his life’s experience to book form. Titled From Klye Hill to Pennsylvania, subtitled A true Irish success story the book project was completed in a timeframe of some two years.

The book is written in two parts. The first part deals with Paddy’s parents’ way of life throughout World War II when they brought up 12 children in the midst of poverty. Part two is, in general, about his business life and selling hydraulic cylinders all over the world.

The book was launched by the man himself in June 2019 at the Arboretum Garden Centre, Leighlinbridge.

Rachel Doyle, owner of the Arboretum and great friend of Paddy’s, wrote on the book’s back page: “Paddy is an incredible businessman and a valued friend. His wisdom, drive, vision and commitment is inspiring. The book is a revelation of practical common sense, advice and full of invaluable nuggets and gems. A must read for anyone in business.” In the book’s foreword, Paddy wrote that one of the publication’s objectives was to document how a small Irish engineering firm, “born of the land and hardship”, rose to international success.

He continued: “I also hoped to identify the key moments and the crucial learning points that caused this to happen as well as the elements that have sustained it.” Another objective of the book was to help raise money for the Irish Cancer Society and Arthritis Ireland, both causes close to Paddy Byrne’s heart. He observed: “Both organisations do incredible work helping those, like myself, who suffer or have suffered from these diseases.” In his introduction to the 160-page publication, Paddy stated that his book is the story of an Irish family whose roots were forged from blacksmiths and farmers. He related how his father Pake Byrne and his wife Elizabeth Bermingham met and married in 1932 during Ireland’s economic war with Britain.

Continuing, Paddy wrote: ‘From a small stone cottage and a single hill-field covered in rocks and furze bushes, they (parents) suffered unbelievable hardship in bringing up their 12 children. Pake was disappointed when I, his eldest son, fell ill and was unable to help him on the land. But I had good hands and a flair for inventions. Later on, I brought my three brothers to the edge of economic disaster when one of my inventions threatened the business of the family they worked for.

However, the four of us didn’t take this lying down but turned it to our advantage, setting up our own business to make muscles for machines, as we call our hydraulic cylinders. Very soon we were selling these all over the country and eventually succeeded in breaking into the industrial heartlands of many countries, selling our muscles to leading machinery manufacturers across continents from the most of unlikely bases in rural County Carlow.

‘In the process we have become one of the largest employers in the area, giving employment to over 1,000 people, along with several hundred more in the subcontracting sector.

‘Over time, it developed into an industrial ecosystem with factories and sub-contractors cropping up all over the south east, surely proving the old maxim that success breeds success.’ Paddy wrote that ‘it was not bad going for four lads from Kyle Hill who used to play football with a pig’s bladder as there was no money to buy a real football.’ He stated people had speculated on how Burnside continued to expand internationally down through the years.

‘Although outside experts and academics looking at us agree that our growth and development wasn’t just accidental, they cannot come up with any single reason as to why it happened. They acknowledge that our success is not due to the availability of money or high educational achievement on the part of the founders; nor is the success due to the work of the development agencies, although the latter certainly helped along the way.

‘To this day, my brothers and I contend we did nothing exceptional and that others could have done just as we did. However, there must be more to it than that. If it was simple, everyone would have succeeded, and history shows how difficult it was in rural Ireland in those years to make a living, not to mention developing an industrial enterprise.’ Paddy concludes it was, most likely, a combination of character and tough-mindedness as well as lots of determination, inherited from the meagre and austere environment in which the brothers were brought up that gave them a solid and enterprising outlook on life.

‘No doubt, a life-long flair for invention and an inherent ability to notice things, particularly on my part, were enabling factors that were put to practical use throughout the years, and which were of substantial benefit to the business.’ Paddy wrote that his book aimed to show the how and why of the remarkable development that was Burnside and takes a look at the reasons the business continued to prosper over the years – even in recessionary periods when other enterprises began to decline and disappear.

Paddy Byrne has left a lasting legacy of a life well lived, being remembered by all who knew him as a gentleman and a friend who wore his success lightly, a man who always retained the common touch.

Paddy reposed in Kearney’s Funeral Home, Fenagh on Tuesday afternoon, 29 July where prayers were led by Fr Declan Foley, PP, Bagenalstown.

The remains were removed from the Byrne home on Wednesday afternoon to St Patrick’s Church, Newtown, Bagenalstown for funeral mass.

A number of significant symbols of Paddy’s life were brought to the altar at the start of Mass.

A family photo was presented by Paddy’s niece, Lylah.

Granddaughter Alexandra presented a German dictionary, reflecting Paddy’s command of language.

Son Pat presented a metal sculpture, reflecting his dad’s inventive mind.

Paddy’s wife Kathleen presented a small tree, representing the couple’s shared interest in gardening at their Ballywilliamroe home.

Daughter Lily brought to the altar a copy of her dad’s book From Kyle Hill to Pennsylvania.

The final symbol was presented by Pascal (son). It was an old handsaw, symbolising that Paddy’s skills were not just confined to the area of engineering.

Readings at Mass were by Aoife Kelly (granddaughter) and Nicola Byrne (daughter), Prayers of the Faithful were recited by Colm (grandson), Hugo (great grandson), Rebecca (great granddaughter), Daniel (grandson), Andrew (grandson) and Caoilfhionn (granddaughter).

Offertory gifts during Mass were brought forward by Bridie Fleming (sister), Tommy Byrne (brother) and Nuala Stoiri (daughter).

The wonderful singing at Mass was by Bernard Hennessy, supported by Elsie Nolan and Newtown choir.

At the end of Mass, Caroline Kelly, Paddy’s daughter, in a eulogy said she was trying to think what her dad might say if he were there to speak for himself.

Caroline said her father was “a master of preparation”, so he would have put a lot of thought into what he would say that would interest people.

He would marvel at the fact so many people came to pay their last respects to the boy from Kyle Hill in Graignaspidogue.

Continuing, Caroline told the packed congregation that her dad’s day would go in chronological order through his life experiences because that’s how he approached everything – in an orderly and logical fashion – true to his engineering mindset.

She said: “He would surely reflect on his humble origins and pay tribute to his parents, Pake and Cis, who were his inspiration from an early age and who shaped his destiny.

He would reflect on how our world has changed over that time – no doubt he would tell everyone it took a year to get a phone line installed in Burnside when he and his brothers started the business in 1974. He would have to mention his great hero – Seán Lemass – the father of the nation as he would often remind us. And no story would be complete without a mention of his cabbage cutting invention when he worked in Irish Sugar.” Caroline went on to say her dad wouldn’t dwell on the past. He was very much a man who lived in the present and always planned for the future.

She described him as a man possessed of an insatiable appetite for knowledge.

Caroline continued: “He was a great teacher and always took pains to show us how to do things properly, whether it was plucking a chicken, sweeping a floor or welding a hydraulic cylinder. He didn’t see problems – only challenges to be solved. He loved a challenge more than anything, whether it was to convince a German multinational to buy hydraulic cylinders from a small Irish company or to learn a language, just to show that everything was possible.” She said her dad taught himself German, Spanish and French between the ages of 50 and 70. He embraced new technology and mastered computing skills at an early age when he was only in his 60’s. “He loved using excel and took delight in preparing spreadsheets and using pivot tables. That brings us to his great passion and the thing that ignited his mind – Burnside. It was his other child and there was never a day when he wasn’t thinking about it and how it could be improved,” said Caroline.

“We met a gentleman yesterday at the wake and he told me he first met Paddy years ago at a meditation class in Carlow. He came to the class because he was having trouble sleeping. He said he couldn’t stop waking up in the night with new ideas for how to build machines and design cylinders.” Right up to two weeks before his passing he was asking her (Caroline) if the company had got a contract signed with a French customer. “When I asked him what he thought I should do about a few problems with the contract, he said: ‘Get it done.’” He had decided to buy himself a wheelchair vehicle just before Christmas 2023 so he could get around a bit. “I think he wanted to get down to the factory just to smell the machinery and check up on the team,” Caroline said.

Paddy loved his family very much and was always encouraging all of them to reach their personal potential and goals in life. He loved all his brothers and sisters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and loved to keep up-to-date with their various activities.

She praised Kathleen, Paddy’s wife, and thanked her from the bottom of the family’s hearts for the endless kindness and patience showed to her dad as his health began to wane.

Concluding her tribute to her father, Caroline said: “We can only hope we can continue his legacy and do him proud in the future.” Caroline read a poem she wrote for Paddy, after a particularly lovely Sunday morning walk they took in south Kilbrannish a few years ago, “when we were going through a poetry-writing phase”.

The Walk We walked together arm in arm on the path we both had chosen.

We felt the warmth upon our faces - the glow of glory - no one to chasten us.

For us time now stood still - as mother nature enveloped us in loving arms of gentle green.

Could we do it all again?

Your feet fell softly keeping time to the rhythm of our hopes.

For you always knew that in the end, our patience surely would win.

You turned to face me, gently smiling, eyes loving & unconditional.

If only God would grant us time & give us life eternal.

And yet we know that time moves on and we never can go back.

But we walk on bravely courting nature to let us stay & win a while still.

Following Mass, Paddy was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery, with Fr Foley reciting the final prayers at the graveside.

The huge numbers who attended on both occasions testified to the popularity of the man.

He is survived by his wife Kathleen (née Dillon), children Lily Holmes (Borris), Pat (Ardristan, Tullow), Nuala Stori (Garryhill, Carlow), Paschal (Leighlinbridge), Caroline Kelly (Drumphea, Bagenalstown), Nicola Byrne (London) and Paul (Pennsylvania, USA), brothers Jimmy (Ballywilliamroe), Tom (Garryhill) and Anthony (Graignaspidogue), sisters Phyllis Hulton (Dublin), Mary Brennan (Killeshin, Carlow), Tess Mannion (London), Carmel Nolan (Fenagh, Carlow) and Bridie Fleming (Nurney), grandchildren Colm, Hazel, Louise, Melissa, Paula, Caoilfhionn, Daniel, Alexandra, Oliver, Aoife, Andrew, Eoin and Cara, equally treasured great grandchildren Rebecca, Dylan, Hugo, Dante, Hayden and Alfred, sons-in-law John Stoiri, Andy Kelly, Tom Holmes, Ray Kehoe; daughters-in-law Annie, Elaine and Erin.

He is also survived by his nephews, nieces, carers, kind neighbours and a multitude of friends and past colleagues.

Paddy was predeceased by his first wife, the former Mary Jordan from Knockroe, Borris, sisters Nan Byrne (Dublin), Kathleen Mulvin (Offaly) and brother Ned (Kilcoole, Fighting Cocks).