Politicians from all the main parties have praised the former Fine Gael TD and minister, Mr John Boland, who died yesterday after a long fight against cancer.
Mr Boland, who was 55, was described by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, as "one of the most courageous, imaginative and innovative politicians I have known . . . fearless in defending his beliefs both privately and publicly. He had no patience with hypocrisy of any kind."
Mr Bruton said that, while best remembered as the minister for education who abolished corporal punishment in schools in the 1980s, Mr Boland had produced "a futuristic blueprint for Dublin which prefigured developments only now coming to pass".
Mr Bruton said they had first met as students at University College Dublin, since when Mr Boland had successfully pursued three careers, first journalism, as editor of a student magazine and later as a newspaper commentator; politics; and finally the law.
"He faced his long and painful illness with the same courage he displayed in his professional life. Indeed, he seemed to draw great wisdom and perspective from it."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said he was saddened by the death of "one of the most committed and able politicians of his generation". He remembered Mr Boland as "a man of great intellect and a formidable speaker during his time in the Dail and the Seanad". The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, echoed his comments, praising Mr Boland as "one of the best and brightest politicians of his time".
A former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, highlighted Mr Boland's effectiveness in both Fine Gael-led coalitions of the 1980s.
"In the history of the State no other minister has given the reform of the public administration the exclusive attention that, as minister for the public service, he devoted to the task between 1982 and 1986," he said. "He humanised the face of the Civil Service, as well as introducing to its higher levels both much greater mobility and a promotional system."
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn TD, said he had always found Mr Boland "a most hardworking, able and genial colleague," while the Green Party TD Mr Trevor Sargent called him "an intellectual ambassador for north Co Dublin".
Mr Sargent said what was most sad was that Mr Boland died too young to enjoy a leisurely retirement which he well deserved after so many years of study and work in the worlds of politics and the law. He had excelled in anything he turned his hand to, which was a rare phenomenon for any man.
