Longford mourns loss of local statesman

Despite his deteriorating health in recent years, the death of former Fianna Fail taoiseach Albert Reynolds has been met with shock and sadness in Longford town.

A book of condolence has opened at Dublin Street, where Mr Reynolds's former constituency secretary Pauline Foudy said "everybody is heartbroken, I suppose Albert was 'our Taoiseach'."

She recalled working with Mr Reynolds when he served as Minister for Industry and Commerce, Minister for Finance and Taoiseach. “It’s sad,” she said, “even though everybody knew that he wasn’t in the best of health for the last number of years it’s a shock, I think everybody in Longford will feel it regardless of their politics.

“My lasting memory of him was I suppose his sense of humour, his approach to people, the general public,” Ms Foudy added. “He loved coming back down to Longford to meet the locals and catch up on the news. I think he felt at home when he came back to Longford, I really felt when he came back he lit up really.”

In his day, Mr Reynolds would sometimes work in his clinic from noon to 3am. “He never rushed anyone, if someone came in he would never rush them out the door. He was very familiar with the local people,” Ms Foudy recalled.

Former Longford/Westmeath Fianna Fail TD, Peter Kelly said "it's a very sad day for Longford, a very sad day for myself personally and my family and a very sad day for Kathleen and all the family."

Speaking outside the Longford Arms, he too recalled Mr Reynolds’s fondness for the town and county. “His heart and his soul was in Longford and he loved Longford and he loved the people of Longford and the people loved him.”

“He was a man of huge ability, a great capacity for work and I worked closely with him politically here on the local scene, local politics, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” Mr Kelly said. “It was a great pleasure to have known the man like Albert Reynolds, he was a man of the people, he was a friendly man but he was also a man of brilliant ability.”

Mr Reynolds's last constituency chairman and director of elections Benny Reid described it as "the end of an era... He was bigger than the party, he was bigger than a lot of people gave him credit for." He said the former Taoiseach's legacy will undoubtedly be his work towards peace in Northern Ireland.

“Long after the rest of us are gone I think the historians will be kind to Albert Reynolds and will see the man for what he was, he was one of our very few statesmen,” said Mr Reid.