Ahern oration: The following is the full transcript of the Oration delivered by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the graveside of Charles J Haughey yesterday.
"We are here in mourning to say our final farewell to our former taoiseach, the statesman, Charles J Haughey. I am privileged and honoured to have been asked to pay tribute to him on this poignant occasion.
For myself I speak of Charles Haughey as a brilliant colleague, a political leader of peerless acumen, a commanding talent. On behalf of the Government and on behalf of the Fianna Fáil party, I want to again extend my deepest sympathies to his devoted wife Maureen, to his children Eimear, Conor, Ciaran and Seán, to his extended family, many friends and political supporters.
He was a legend and a man. We know him as a human being with all that implies. We, each of us, also live every day with all that he achieved for Ireland.
His life was an extraordinary journey
Born in Mayo, in the aftermath of the War of Independence, the young Charles Haughey was reared on the northside of Dublin. Later, throughout his long public career, he never forgot his roots or the quintessential Dublin values that were instilled in him growing up. A brilliant student, a qualified barrister and a practising accountant, Charles Haughey was blessed with a strong intellect, natural charisma and a driving spirit that were to make him the dominant public figure in the late 20th century Ireland.
Mr Haughey's outstanding abilities and determination were to serve him well in a tenure of government that, while often contentious, was full to the brim of achievements which benefited immensely his constituents and our country.
His political career was controversial at times, to say the least. In part because he was someone who did not ride the winds and tides, he sought to change them. From his election in 1957, he was a member of the Dáil for almost half the life of the State, attaining high office as minister and taoiseach on four occasions.
As a teenager I can still remember canvassing for Charlie at election time. That is what we called him. That is what everyone called him. He was one of us. He was larger than life.
Charles Haughey brought to the office of taoiseach a wide array of talents and skills. Perhaps unmatched in the modern era. His period there defined our times. I saw him at first hand, he was a consummate politician. He exhibited grace under pressure.
He had an incisive mind, superb parliamentary skills, proud identity with Ireland - all of Ireland - and a profound respect, in victory and defeat, for our democratic institutions.
As well as political talent, Charlie had the discipline of a tremendous work ethic. If the definition of a patriot is someone who devotes all their energy to the betterment of their countrymen, Charles Haughey was a patriot to his fingertips.
Bhí grá buan ag Cathal don tír seo. Ba chuid larnach da shaol polaitíochta an grá seo. Bhí an tírghrá go smior ann. Bhí ardmheas aige ar gach gné de shaol na tíre seo - ar n-oidhreacht uasal, ar gcultúr saibhir, ar dteanga arsa - agus suim faoi leith aige I gcursaí staire agus liteardha.
(Charlie had a steadfast love for this country. This love was a central element of his political life. He was patriotic to the core. He had a great respect for every aspect of the life of this country - our noble heritage, our rich culture, our ancient tongue - and a special interest in historical and literary matters.)
Charles Haughey died on the 13th of June, the date that William Butler Yeats was born. Yeats was a great man. He was also a complex man. And so was Haughey.
Yeats was impatient at the progress of our country. And so was Charlie. And when Yeats wrote "I am of Ireland", he could not have painted a better description of Charles J Haughey.
As a minister, Charles Haughey was a radical reformer. He believed that pensioners should travel for free on public transport, and to this day they still do.
He fought to protect the rights of widows to inherit and was the architect of the succession Bill. He heeded President Kennedy's words to the Dáil that no larger nation has ever provided the world with more artistic and literary genius than Ireland. And so he created concessions for artists.
Today, Ireland has its own renaissance of art and culture. Charles Haughey had the vision to see that Temple Bar could be a centrepiece of urban revival so he campaigned to save it and built it into the thriving, living heart of the capital city of our country today.
On first becoming taoiseach in nineteen 1979, Mr Haughey had three over-arching objectives. To bring lasting peace and end the conflict that had plagued this island for too long. To make Ireland a respected member of the European Union, not on the periphery but at the heart of the European project. And to consign to the dustbin of history, the economic instability and injustice, mass unemployment and poor infrastructure that had afflicted this island for centuries.
As one of Mr Haughey's successors as Taoiseach, I want to acknowledge that he left a huge legacy of lasting achievement which this generation has based its own progress upon.
History will favourably record that, from 1988, Charlie Haughey took the first steps on the long road to peace. His courageous decision to open a secret channel of communication with the Provisional leadership paved the way to banishing the bomb and bullet North and South in our time.
Abroad, Mr Haughey put Ireland at the forefront of the developing European community. As a convinced Europhile, he led the government campaign to ratify the Single European Act and he negotiated the Maastricht Treaty.
The successful European presidency and efforts to fast-track the unification of Germany put Irish diplomacy at the feet of history and world events.
We are also in his debt for taking far-sighted decisions which ushered in Ireland's economic success.
It is my firm conviction that the leadership, commitment and determination displayed by Mr Haughey in taking resolute action to cut public expenditure, to control borrowing while securing the basis for a broad consensus, with the support of the social partners, in the Programme for National Recovery in 1987 laid the irreversible foundations for a more prosperous, progressive and caring Ireland.
Mr Haughey led Fianna Fáil through a volatile and tumultuous period in Irish politics.
Undoubtedly his tenacity, his courage and will to win served him well during a number of political crises and setbacks.
These qualities were to the forefront in Charlie's last years when he battled illness with dignity and stoic determination. He did so not with sadness but with the unquenchable capacity to smile and a wit that never lost its edge.
He could go through it because Maureen, his children and all his family were always by his side.
For decades, Charles Haughey was at the coalface of political life on this island. And though he always seemed to provoke the strongest possible feelings, with the passage of time since his retirement and despite the controversies, even political opponents acknowledge that he had indeed done the State some service.
I have no doubt that the ultimate judgment of history will be positive. He was one of the most consequential of Irishmen. And when the shadows have faded, the light of his achievements will remain.
Today, I recall his singular combination of love for great literature and great politics.
But I think of the words of the former American president and man of letters, Theodore Roosevelt, which speak to the essence of Mr Haughey's spirit that honoured the undeniable difference he made.
And I quote: "It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comesup short again and again, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. And, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
In his time, Charles J Haughey was Ireland's man in the arena. Someone who dared greatly and who knew the triumph of great deeds. No one could ever call him timid. He could err but he was always valiant. Upon the Ireland he literally helped to build, we look back on his extraordinary journey on earth, begun in Castlebar and ending here today.
Of this memory, of this man, larger than life, there will be no end.
Immersed in his many political battles, Charles Haughey would ruefully acknowledge to me that he enjoyed the proverbial nine lives. Charlie, "Boss", the last of those lives has now been extinguished. Today, the most agile and instinctive of our political leaders is still. But we leave this place in the belief that he is born to a new life where there is peace and the fullness of redemption. And that his crossing has been calm and untroubled and that he has reached the lasting haven which was promised to him in the waters of his baptism.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
(May his noble soul be on the right hand of God.)