District Courts in Dublin fell silent this morning as a mark of respect to former judge and former tánaiste Michael O'Leary (70) who died in France last week.
Warm tributes were paid to the Cork-born politician who retired from the bench just days before he drowned in a swimming pool accident on Thursday.
During a 22-year parliamentary career, Mr O'Leary served as Minister for Labour in the mid-1970s and as tánaiste in Garret FitzGerald's first coalition government in 1981/82.
The capital's District Court judges will observe a minute's silence when they convene this morning on the wishes of the president of the District Court, Judge Miriam Malone.
Judge Malone said she and her fellow District Court judges were very saddened by the loss of such a long-standing colleague.
Leading the tributes last week, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "During his time in the Dáil from 1965 to 1987 he was a distinguished politician who was very much part of the process of liberalisation in Irish society."
PA