Pat Ingoldsby is remembered at his funeral as ‘unaffected, profoundly human’

Poet and broadcaster Pat Ingoldsby was “unaffected and profoundly human”, mourners were told at a funeral celebration on Thursday.

Ingoldsby died on March 1st at the age of 82 at a nursing home in Clontarf, Dublin.

Mourners included playwright and author Peter Sheridan, former Ireland football manager Brian Kerr, film director Terry McMahon and Brush Shiels, whose music was used in the service in Dublin. President Michael D Higgins was represented at the funeral by Commandant Deirdre Newell.

Reflecting on Ingoldsby’s poems, RTÉ radio presenter Shay Byrne, who was the celebrant, said “like Pat, they are unaffected and profoundly human”.

Under instruction that there be “no smiling, laughing or merriment”, mourners had followed Ingoldsby’s coffin into the Victorian Chapel at Mount Jerome Crematorium in Harold’s Cross. Dancing was encouraged, and embraced, on entry, as Lou Bega’s joyful song Mambo No 5 played in the background.

Recreations of his familiar street signs, with lines such as “Cats Welcome”, “Once Upon a ’Hide” and “Dublin poet”, were placed at the altar. The broadcaster’s “savage cabbage” held pride of place on his coffin, accompanied by two tubes of Smarties – a favourite treat.

Author and Ingoldsby’s long-time companion, Vivienne Baillie, who led the tributes, described him as “ferociously independent, a true free thinker, an artist to the core”.

“I met Pat almost exactly 20 years ago to the day as he was selling his books on the streets of Dublin. At the time neither of us realised that our lives were about to shift in the most unexpected way,” she said.

“His love was liquid. It poured out of him, filling every nook and cranny.

“Like love, words gushed out of him. Those who knew him well, know how he could conjure up an image with the simple power of words, which he never failed to find in what seemed to be from Pat, a bottomless pit.”

Joining in the tributes, which combined poetry readings and heartfelt speeches, were Ingoldsby’s sister Brigid, friend Louise Kirwan, nieces Fiona McGorty and Aisling Gibson and nephew Dave Gibson, who had compiled a digital photo collage of his life.

In a eulogy, delivered by Mr Gibson, Ingoldsby’s sister Brigid remembered him as an “incredible brother” and best friend.

“He always did everything his own way and in his own time. Life excited him. Beauty astounded him. His needs were simple. All of his interactions with people he met were treasured and loved,” she said.

Ingoldsby’s television shows for children – Pat’s Pals, Pat’s Hat and Pat’s Chat – were popular in the 1980s. In later life, the poet was, as Mr Byrne put it, “part of the fabric of Dublin” and known to many as a beloved character of the city’s streets where he sold his books and “gave great solace to people”.

In 2022, Ingoldsby was the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary, The Peculiar Sensation of Being Pat Ingoldsby. He told The Irish Times later that year that his life had been full to the brim with “beautiful, adrenalising, colourful incidents”.