1973, and established a new public relations company called Public Relations of Ireland (O'Herlihy Communications). In 2004, the Sunday Independent reported that O'Herlihy had lobbied on behalf of an Irish company, Bula Resources which was adversely affected by sanctions on Iraq. Environmental lobbygroup and charity An Taisce also claim that O'Herlihy's company, on behalf of a client, was involved in lobbying for controversial rezoning of land at Cherrywood in Dublin. O'Herlihy's PR consultancy was also involved in lobbying for the tobacco industry in Ireland, which came under scrutiny for attempts to influence government health and budget policy. O'Herlihy had grown up in a family that had strongly supported the Fine Gael party and, in 1977, he became a media adviser to the party. He fulfilled that role for much of the next decade and was one of Garret FitzGerald's "handlers" during his two terms as Taoiseach in the 1980s. Death O'Herlihy attended the 12th Irish Film & Television Awards on Sunday 24 May 2015. He died the following day at the age of 76 nearly a year after his retirement. He was survived by wife Hillary and daughters Jill and Sally. Giles, Brady and Dunphy appeared on The Late Late Show in tribute later that week. References External links Richie Sadlier: Bill was the most kind-hearted man I ever worked with 1938 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Businesspeople from County Cork Irish Examiner people Irish public relations people Irish sports broadcasters Jacob's Award winners People from Cork (city) RTÉ television presenters