TRIBUTES have been paid to the President by the main political leaders. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, said Mrs Robinson was the "best President the country ever had". She had "performed in her office outstandingly well" and had brought "honour and pride to the people of Ireland".
She had symbolised the modernisation of the country and had dissipated some of the stereotypes about Ireland that had existed abroad, the Taoiseach said.
Asked about Mrs Robinson's future role, he said the Government would do everything it could to secure any international officer she wanted to take up.
Mr Bruton thanked the President for exceptional kindness she had shown him personally "in the constitutional role we perform in conjunction with one another".
The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said Mrs Robinson had "transformed the office of President" by keeping all her promises and had "given new meaning to the more pluralist, open and tolerant Ireland that she always espoused".
She had "also contributed in the most significant way possible to the transformation of Ireland's image and to the development of reconciliation on the island of Ireland", he said.
He said there had been some "known tensions", but the President had been a President with a purpose who had fulfilled that purpose.
A statement by Mr Proinsias De Rossa, the leader of Democratic, Left and Minister for Social Welfare, said Mrs Robinson had fulfilled "the promise she made to the electorate in 1990 and expanded the dimensions of the office, making it more accessible, and relevant to all citizens of the State".
Ms Mary O'Rourke, the deputy leader of Fianna Fail, expressed admiration for Mrs Robinson's "range and level of work" and said she would have liked her to continue as President into a second term. She said the President had given "focus and status to men and women in rural Ireland" and everyone she met she told them that their "work mattered".
Mrs O'Rourke said she would not be a candidate in any future Presidential election.
The leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, said the President's role "in extending the hand of friendship to all communities in this island will be of lasting historical significance".
Downing Street issued a statement on Mr John Major's behalf, saying: "The Prime Minister has always had the greatest respect for President Robinson and enjoyed an excellent relationship with her.
"Her visit to Britain last year was a great success and her constant concern for a lasting and peaceful settlement of Northern Ireland's political problems, together with her sympathy for the victims of violence, have been much appreciated."
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said Mrs Robinson would be "fondly remembered as the President who sought to embrace excluded communities, to be inclusive in her approach and, to reach out to the Irish diaspora throughout the world". He said her visits to Northern Ireland were "particularly memorable".
The Catholic Church press office said it did not plan to issue, a general statement at this time.