Tony Heffernan was a legend of the Irish haulage industry
TONY HEFFERNAN, a legend of the Irish haulage industry, made his final journey in unusual style as his coffin was brought on the back of a truck to St. Patrick’s Church in Rosslare Harbour for his funeral Mass.
Tony of Ballygeary, Rosslare Harbour and late of Ballyfermot, Dublin died on November 16 following a brief illness having survived lung cancer 16 years ago. He was 71 years old.
After the Requiem Mass, his coffin was transported to St. Aidan’s Cemetery in Kilrane on the tractor unit of Mick Cash as part of a small convoy of lorries which hooted their horns near the graveside as he was laid to rest.
The coffin was carried from his home to the road on the shoulders of his sons as his daughters walked behind in cortege.
Tony is survived by his beloved partner Donna; his children Shannon, Shane, Charlie, Jamie, Annalee, Tony, Matthew, John Paul, Diarmuid, Edward and Mitzy; his brothers John Joe and Pat and his sisters Helen, Chrisdina and Jacqueline; his grandchildren and his extended family and wide circle of friends.
Born in Dublin in 1946, Tony grew up in Ballyfermot and went to work with his father Johnny, unloading ships’ cargo on Dublin Docks when he was 13 years old. He started driving trucks for the Ferry Wagon Company in Dublin when he was 18, making deliveries to the UK and he was one of the first drivers to do Continental runs for them.
Tony moved to Wexford in 1971 and drove for Tracey Somers, travelling to Algeria and Libya to deliver supplies of beef. At that time, he took the ferry from New Ross to Cherbourg when a service operated from the port.
In 1973, he bought a truck in partnership with Ted Shanahan and the following year, he invested in his own truck, starting Hibernia International which he built into a successful company with a fleet of 16 trucks which transported goods all over the UK and Europe. Tony was the first truck driver to arrive in Fishguard off the Sealink (now Stena) ferry when it began taking freight.
After he was diagnosed with lung cancer for the first time in 2001, his Hibernia trucks were operated by Baku GLS where Tony was appointed a warehouse manager and he remained working there until six weeks before he lost his fight for life in Wexford General Hospital after suffering a re-occurence of the cancer. The Hibernian trucks had been sold to Baku in 2008.
Tony spent a lifetime in the haulage business and was one of the pioneers of the industry in Ireland, starting out in the early 1960’s when Irish truckers were like adventurers travelling to exciting territories abroad in the days when a journey that is now done in three or four days, would have taken a couple of weeks and trans-continental drivers didn’t have the luxury of mobile phone contact with their families.
He made friends within the trucking community all over Ireland and abroad and some of them travelled from as far away as Germany and Spain for his funeral. Tony was waked at his home in Ballygeary where up to 1,000 people came to pay their last respects to a legend of the road.
Friend and fellow trucker Liam O’Neill who drove with him back in the early 1970’s paid a tribute during the funeral Mass and his daughter Shannon delivered an emotional eulogy. Dan Nolan, a former Hibernia driver said the Trucker’s Prayer while family friend and driver Finbar O’ Riordan also paid tribute.
Tony was well thought of throughout Ireland and from his early days of driving in Europe. If you were having a bad day, a chat with him would lift your spirits. Blessed with an easy-going personality, he never argued or fell out with anyone.
He will be sadly missed by his family and many friends who are deeply upset at his passing.