Massachusetts tributes for Kennedy

Thousands of Massachusetts residents have queued today for a chance to pay their last respects to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Thousands of Massachusetts residents have queued today for a chance to pay their last respects to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

A book of condolence for Mr Kennedy remains open for a second day today at the US embassy in Dublin, while a book has also been opened at City Hall in Cork.

Yesterday, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and US ambassador Dan Rooney paid tribute to the late senator, who died on Wednesday after a 15-month struggle with cancer.

Mr Kennedy, who was first elected to the Senate post in 1962, is lying in repose at Boston's John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

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The public has been invited to view his flag-draped casket in the museum that honours his late brother, former US president John F. Kennedy. Over 20,000 people filed in yesterday evening.

The body of the senator, who died of brain cancer on August 25th, was brought to the museum yesterday from his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, about 110 kilometres south of Boston.

Thousands of people lined the roads and overpasses to catch a glimpse of the black hearse bearing his body.

Traffic on highways came to a halt in many places as motorists on the opposite sides of the road would just stop to watch the motorcade, which included about 85 family members.

Mr Kennedy's wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, spoke briefly to reporters at the museum, thanking people for turning out to support her husband. In remarks carried on CNN, she said the sight of people lining the streets was "deeply, deeply moving for all of us".

Mr Kennedy's funeral will be held tomorrow at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica. President Barack Obama, on holiday this week on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, is scheduled to speak. The president is "still working" on the eulogy, a White House spokesman said.

Mr Cowen will attend a memorial service at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum this evening and a funeral mass at the basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.