'One of the most influential figures in Irish public life'

ÉAMON GILMORE:FEW PUBLIC figures have left behind such a record of achievement at constituency, national and international level as former president Dr Paddy Hillery, the Dáil was told.

Labour leader Éamon Gilmore said it was perhaps an indication of the respect and esteem in which Dr Hillery was held that the tributes paid to him by political opponents "were as warm and generous as from those who were his political colleagues".

He was "one of the most important and influential figures in Irish public life over a period of four decades".

The Labour leader believed "it is perhaps in his role as minister for external affairs in that tumultuous period between 1969 and 1973 that he made his greatest contribution to Irish life. Younger people will have little appreciation of the instability and dangers to Irish democracy that emerged as events in Northern Ireland threatened to spill over the Border and engulf the entire island."

At a time "when cool heads and calm words were never more important, Paddy Hillery rose to the challenge. We owe him a debt of gratitude for the crucial role he played in ensuring the stability of the institutions of the State and our democratic system during that turbulent period."

The "groundbreaking role he played as social affairs commissioner demonstrated in practical terms the benefits that EU membership could bring to the living and working conditions of the Irish people".

He "demonstrated his independence when he was prepared to take on an Irish government and insist that the principle of equal pay for men and women was proceeded with".

"If I were to pick four words to sum up the public career of Dr Patrick Hillery, they would be dignity, duty, commitment and honour," Mr Gilmore said.

It had been suggested that Dr Hillery was a "reluctant nominee for president", and if so it "was an indication of his sense of public duty that he was prepared to take on the position and to serve in it for 14 years".

If he was reluctant, "he never allowed it to show or to interfere with his constitutional and public duties.

"He brought a quiet dignity to the office of President and after the dramatic developments of the previous few years, the premature death of President [Erskine] Childers and the resignation in controversial circumstances of President [Cearbhall] Ó Dálaigh, that is perhaps the quality that was most needed in the Áras at the time."