SIR ANTHONY O'Reilly has a deserved reputation as a raconteur, and he added to that reputation yesterday in the course of a reflective speech on the Irish economy and the historical significance of Charles Stuart Parnell.
He began "filled with humility, as the Taoiseach would say", following a lavish introduction.
Commenting on "the Olympian" Conor Cruise O'Brien, Sir Anthony recalled that Dr Cruise O'Brien missed his first Labour Party conference. The man (believed to be the late Frank Cluskey) who was due to introduce him, "and who couldn't stand him, said 'they usually say at this point that the speaker needs no introduction. Well nothing could be truer this time because the bugger isn't even here!'."
Sir Anthony's advice on the Irish co-operative movement, on arrival at An Bord Bainne in 1962, was that "there'll be shag-all co-operation".
One executive's response to his decision in favour of Kerrygold over Buttercup or Shannon Gold as a title for the butter brand was, Sir Anthony recalled: "Tony, there are no shaggin' cows in Kerry."
Then there was the taxi driver who said, as they passed Harcourt Street railway station in Dublin, then recently closed by CIÉ chairman Todd Andrews: "Sure he'd close down the Stations of the Cross."
And then there was his friend Brendan Behan, "who was always going for the final cure. He told me he was joining Alcoholics Anonymous: 'Yes, from now on I'll be drinking under an assumed name'."
