Tributes continued to be paid yesterday to The Irish Times journalist Mary Holland, who died on Monday night.
Nobel laureate Séamus Heaney expressed his "real personal grief" at her death. He said he first met her in 1965 when she was covering the Belfast Arts Festival. The heading on her Observer piece was "Bang, bang, you're dead", and she went on to cover many more "bang, bangs", he said.
The poet said that, unusually for a journalist, Mary Holland had an influence on the action. "She had a probity that rubbed off on people," and her efforts to be fair to all sides were exemplary. He also spoke of her qualities of sanity, trustworthiness and penetrating insight.
"In the Yeatsian sense she was one of the 'hearers and heartners of the work' in both the cultural and the political worlds."
He said he came alive in her sympathetic company. She had "a quality of character and sweet temperament, there was a gumption and a humour in her".
He met her at Field Day events and at her Christmas parties, where people recited poems and sang songs, and which he described as a place where people "felt emotionally safe".
The Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Mr Séamus Dooley, said her death "silences forever a compassionate and courageous voice".
Referring to her ground-breaking work in covering Northern Ireland, he added: "Many may not realise that Mary Holland was a committed trade unionist, imbued with a sense of justice.
"Her experiences in the UK gave her an acute perception of the consequences of Thatcherite policies for ordinary workers.
"This informed her work as chair of the Dublin Freelance Branch of the NUJ and her incisive contributions to delegate meetings and to meetings of The Irish Times chapel.
"During the crisis at The Irish Times, despite failing health, Mary attended meetings of the editorial committee and contributed to the campaign for reform of The Irish Times with gusto.
"Among media colleagues Mary is remembered with affection for her warm humanity and generosity, especially towards visiting journalists. She was selfless in sharing her information and understanding."
A funeral service will take place at 2 p.m. today in the Baroque Chapel in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, followed by burial at Mount Venus cemetery, Rathfarnham.