The death of Mr Timothy M. Healy, K.C., closes a very notable career. For the young people of to-day it was a difficult thought that this mild old man ever had been a volcano of Irish politics. Mr Healy's political life enclosed and illustrated the stormiest of all stormy periods of Irish affairs, and much of its passion, brilliance and ferocity was imparted by himself. We record elsewhere how the humble railway clerk rose to be an arbiter of his country's fate, a legislator of the first capacity and lord of the ear of the Imperial Parliament. During his thirty-eight years as a member of Parliament he fought a hundred fights and dominated most of them. The protege of Parnell, he became the chief author of Parnell's downfall. During the sordid quarrels of the "split" his powers for mischief and his terrific gift of sarcasm made him the most feared and the most hated man in Ireland. Yet with the emotion which could rise to heights of tragic dignity and could sink to abysmal depths of rancour he combined an acute and practical talent. His ingenuity and industry have left an abiding mark on our land legislation, and he won a high position at the Irish Bar.
The Irish Times, March 27th, 1931.