“Ah yes Peader has passed on,” said the lady who lived quite some distance from him when asked directions. And this in a suburb of Dublin – it was a sign of the man.

Peader MacCanna was born into a proudly Irish family from Co Antrim on Griffith Avenue 79 years ago.

He had many important facets to his life: family man, agricultural adviser, Irish speaker and promoter, banker, GAA man, community activist, Catholic. All of these activities were separate parts of a fully lived life and in each of them he made a significant contribution.

When asked recently what was his working life about, he said “development”. That sums up what he was about.

He started his working life teaching for a very short period, then to the Department of Agriculture. While with them in Tubbercurry, he met Carmel, his wife and rock of support for 51 years and mother of their four children – Deirdre, Niamh, Niall and Peadar – all of whom he was inordinately proud.

It was not until his appointment as head of a special World Bank project for the development of Irish agriculture that he came to national prominence.

The project involved the distribution of World Bank loans for the building of slatted sheds for beef cattle. Those loans were significant in three ways: they marked the change from traditional wintering and farming methods; they created all-year-round production of beef in Ireland in significant quantities; and those loans were much larger than most of those who availed of them had ever borrowed before.

Bank of Ireland spotted what he had done and appointed him to the position of chief agricultural officer. He immediately set about giving loans for the dairy expansion, which led to the doubling of milk production in Ireland.

All went well until the early 1980s when EU farm supports halved and interest rates rose to almost 20% per annum. Then came his finest hour. He realised, as did John Hickey of ACC, that if the banks pursued all the loans that were in default, that the value of farmland – and consequently the bank’s security for good loans – would plummet. Bank of Ireland and the IFA came to an agreement that all sides would share the pain. This led to many tough negotiations where the banks wanted more than the farmers were willing to give, but almost all cases were settled without litigation. It is fair to say that some of the best and largest farmers in Ireland today benefited from those settlements. Peader always said that lending to agriculture was the most profitable bank lending. This is still the situation. He foresaw this clearly and always pursued this policy in the bank.

He was always a very keen GAA supporter. When the bank wanted to show support, Frank O’Rourke, the then CEO of BOI, together with Peader proposed the GAA All-Stars, which was a huge success. He chaired the selection committee for 10 years – suffice to say it was a labour of love.

On retirement he got very involved with the local juvenile team, Beann Eadair, who gave him a guard of honour at his funeral.

It was an honour to know him. There are very few of Peader’s calibre and there is as much need for them today as there was then. Resorting to Nama would most likely have not happened if Peader was in office.

Ar dheis De ar Anaimh.

TC