Dick Spring leads tributes to former Labour senator Billy Cashin

Former tánaiste and former Labour Party leader Dick Spring has led the tributes to former Labour stalwart Billy Cashin, who died at the weekend in his native North Cork at the age of 85.

Mr Cashin, a native of Kanturk, was a Labour senator from 1993 until 1997 after being nominated to Seanad Éireann by then-taoiseach Albert Reynolds when Labour entered coalition with Fianna Fáil following the “Spring tide” of the 1992 general election in which the party won 33 seats.

A carpenter with the HSE, working at Mallow General Hospital, Mr Cashin ran twice for the party in general elections in Cork North West but failed to get elected.

Mr Spring said Mr Cashin followed in the tradition of an earlier generation of Labour politicians such as Paddy McAuliffe in North Cork and Michael Pat Murphy in West Cork who represented the interests of rural workers and small farmers.

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“The Labour Party was at a pretty low ebb in Cork North West in the late 1980s and Bill took it on and worked very hard at trying to raise the party’s profile and obviously contested elections on behalf of the party – he built a very good, solid base as shown by his vote in 1992.

“He was genuinely a very hard worker at local level and very committed – he represented the rural tradition of the Labour Party going all the way back to 1912, which of course in North Cork was probably best exemplified by Paddy McAuliffe, who was a TD from the 1940s until the late 1960s.

“After Paddy McAuliffe’s time, Dr Michael Smith almost won a seat for us in Cork North West in 1981 but we did struggle a bit in the constituency after that, but Bill did build up a good base again – he kept his ear to the ground and was always well informed about what happening in the constituency.

“He was very approachable, and he had a wide range of interests – he was fiercely committed to Kanturk and I remember his maiden speech in the Seanad, he spoke about developing Kanturk Castle as a tourist attraction and argued passionately for funding to preserve it and roof it.

“I was reminded of that by Michael McCarthy (former Cork South West Labour TD) after I heard of Bill’s passing – Bill used to come in to my secretary Sally Clarke’s office and ask, ‘When are we going to get the roof on Kanturk Castle?’ He was very committed to it – he was a salt-of-the-earth guy, really.”

Mr Cashin, who died at Araglen Nursing Home in Boherbue on Friday, is survived by his wife, Rita, and sons, Liam, Emmet, and Ciaran. His funeral takes place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Kanturk at 2pm on Tuesday with burial afterwards at Kilbrin Cemetery.

Ends