SOME OF former Fine Gael TD Alice Glenn’s friends were from the other side of the political divide, her son Liam told mourners at her funeral Mass in Dublin yesterday.
“She never bore any animosity at all, of any description, towards her opponents.”
Ms Glenn, who served two Dáil terms in the 1980s, representing the Dublin Central constituency, was an outspoken and colourful opponent of her party’s liberalism on issues such as divorce and contraception. She died, aged 90, in a Dublin nursing home last Friday after a long illness.
Recalling the gregarious side of her formidable personality, Mr Glenn told family, friends and former colleagues at St Columba’s Church, Iona Road, Glasnevin, of how she also forged close friendships with her ideological opponents.
He spoke of her physical courage when, in her 60s, she beat off with an umbrella a thief who tried to steal her handbag.
The eldest in a family of 10, she had been one of a handful of women in the Dáil in her time, the first female member of the Dublin Port and Docks board and the first female to chair the eastern health board, he said. “Those jobs she took very seriously and mastered her brief.”
Parish priest Fr Jim Caffrey recalled a “formidable woman of principle” who had paved a political way for women.
The chief mourners were Ms Glenn’s sons, Liam and Gary, and their families.
President Michael D Higgins was represented by his aide-de-camp, Comdt Michael Walsh, and Taoiseach Enda Kenny by aide-de-camp Comdt Michael Treacy.
The attendance also included former taoisigh Bertie Ahern and John Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, Fine Gael parliamentary party chairman Charlie Flanagan, Fine Gael TDs Bernard Durkan and Paschal Donohoe and Senator Ronan Mullen.
Army deputy Chief of Staff Maj Gen Ralph James and senior staff officer at Air Corps headquarters Andy Mac Intyre, who served with Ms Glenn’s late husband Bill in the Defence Forces, were also there.
Ms Glenn was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
