US Senator John McCain requested that 'Danny Boy' be sung at his funeral, an acknowledgement no doubt of the Scots-Irish roots that he was said to be so proud of.
In his autobiography, ‘Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir’, John McCain wrote that his ancestors moved to Co Antrim from Scotland in 1646.
Two generations later, they immigrated to the US and settled in Virginia.
McCain's Irish roots were referenced in many of the tributes paid to him this week.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described him as a proud Scots-Irishman. The Irish Ambassador to the US, Dan Mulhall said McCain cherished his Scots-Irish heritage.
He was also described as a great friend and an ally of Ireland, particularly when it came to immigration issues.
In his tribute, President Michael D Higgins said that members of Irish communities in the US would have been saddened by news of McCain's death and would have recalled his efforts, along with the late Senator Ted Kennedy, on immigration reform.
Immigration reform
McCain was not afraid to reach across the political divide when it came to immigration issues.
In 2005, the bipartisan "McCain-Kennedy" immigration bill proposed issuing more visas and sought to give illegal immigrants already in the US an opportunity to earn legal status.
The bill was ultimately defeated but it didn't discourage McCain from backing future immigration reform proposals. It is an area that remains as divisive as ever in the US today.
Peace Process
Some tributes this week have referenced John McCain's commitment to the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
During his presidential campaign in 2008, he criticised his opponent Barack Obama for questioning the need for a US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.
He said:"If I am elected president, I assure you that there will be no weakening in America's commitment to peace in Northern Ireland. I'll maintain the special US envoy for Northern Ireland, and I will welcome peacemakers to the White House."
At the time, some accused McCain of hypocrisy, pointing out that in the 1990s he had criticised Bill Clinton's involvement in the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
He accused him of being "motivated by romantic, anachronistic notions of Irish republicanism" and warned that he risked damaging relations with Britain.
The IRA
McCain was seen as a maverick who was not afraid to go against his own party and stand up for his beliefs, even when it meant expressing contrarian views. This was also true when it came to Irish issues.
On one occasion he memorably attacked the IRA and criticised the support that the group had received in the US.
It was in 2005 during an address at the American Ireland Funds' St Patrick's dinner.
He said: "Whatever your views about the historic cause they claimed to have served or the methods they employed, which were, in my opinion, indefensible, no one can honestly claim today that the IRA is anything better than an organised crime syndicate that steals and murders to serve its members' personal interests."
He also condemned the IRA murder of Robert McCartney, saying Northern Irish leaders should take great inspiration from the McCartney sisters and others who have spoken up.
"Let their courage stiffen the will of their leaders so that they may make difficult decisions in the interest of a lasting peace."
Foreign Policy
Despite his calls for peace in Northern Ireland, critics say John McCain was too quick to support wars in other parts of the world.
Writing this week for foreignpolicy.com, Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, claimed that despite his own personal sufferings during the Vietnam War, McCain became the leader of the Senate's pro-war caucus.
He described him as "one of the most ferocious advocates of military intervention, almost irrespective of circumstance" in countries like Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
Whether he was viewed as a war hero or a war supporter few could disagree that John McCain was someone who was not afraid to speak his mind and do things his way.
He may have chosen 'Danny Boy' as his funeral song but at a memorial in Arizona this week it was Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' that played out as John McCain left his home state for the final time.
