Irish tributes: Politicians and others in public life as well as former colleagues paid warm tributes yesterday to the reporter, Irish Times columnist and broadcaster Mary Holland, who has died after a long illness.
The Taoiseach led tributes from political leaders, saying her coverage of Northern Ireland was "hugely influential in illuminating the political complexity as well as the unfolding human tragedy of the past 35 years". Mr Ahern and the North's politicians emphasised her coverage of the North for the Observer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, saying it had been hugely influential in putting Northern Ireland on the British political agenda.
"Her reporting in the Observer of the unfolding drama of the civil rights movement and the early years of the Troubles, together with her later work over many years at The Irish Times, was a formative influence on the public's understanding of the Troubles. In hindsight, Mary Holland's copy is a definitive chronicle of the Troubles, from the civil rights marches through to the peace process."
The Taoiseach also stressed her commitment to women's issues. "She was one of the first generation of influential women journalists whose credibility and authority was important in breaking the monopoly of the male voice on Irish public debate."
Northern politicians on all sides paid tribute to her commitment to the truth in relation to Northern Ireland. The former SDLP leader and good personal friend, Mr John Hume, said she was "the first major journalist to give detailed coverage to the Northern Ireland problem in the British press, which promoted real debate about a solution to our problem. There is no doubt that Mary was one of the outstanding journalists of the century just ended."
Lady Hermon, the Ulster Unionist North Down MP and also a personal friend of the journalist, said Mary Holland was "a source of inspiration and encouragement to me as I began in political life in Northern Ireland.When we met she always told the truth that needed to be told in the most gentle of ways."
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said Ms Holland was a "courageous journalist who will be missed by all who knew her. Her coverage of Ireland from the 1970s did a lot to change how the North was covered as it challenged the bias and censorship of the time ... She brought this same integrity to all her journalistic work and was often a voice for those most marginalised in our society."
The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said she was "the doyenne of Irish journalism. She epitomised the highest journalistic standards - she inquired, she informed, she influenced honestly. She moved people, she moved ideas and she was an expert in moving the issues."
For the Democratic Unionists, Mr Ian Paisley jnr said: "I admired Mary Holland. I found her courteous, professional and friendly. If someone is remembered in those terms, then that someone is worth remembering."
The Alliance leader Mr David Ford said: "Mary's writing deserved respect even when you disagreed with her conclusions. She contributed much to the changes in Irish society in recent years."
The Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny said that what made Mary Holland so remarkable a journalist was that she never forgot "the flesh-and-blood-people - whether she was writing about them or for them. Even in her coverage of the blackest days of the Troubles, there was hope. For example, whenever she wrote or talked about the children of Northern Ireland, it was clear that to her, our future was all there."
He said she had not spared politicians the social results of decisions they took at a remove, and had passed this "gift of conscience" to her daughter, Kitty Holland, now a reporter with The Irish Times.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, described her as one of the greatest journalists of modern Ireland. "She was a witness to the darkest events in our recent history and wrote about them in a way that spared no one the brutal reality of the conflict. However, there was always the hope in Mary's work that a brighter future was available if the political will was there to make it happen," he said.
"Mary also courageously covered many social issues in the South and was able to tell the story of many of society's most vulnerable." The former editor of The Irish Times, Mr Conor Brady, said she had contributed more than any other writing journalist to the Northern Ireland peace process and to building understanding among the peoples of these islands.
"The depth of her understanding and insight was extraordinary. Her personal humanity overlaid all of her coverage, " he said. "In the bleak years of atrocity and counter-atrocity, of hunger-strikes and almost daily assassinations, she endlessly probed, inquired, asked questions and wrote about everything she saw and heard."
He said she could equally "cajole and upbraid a Tory secretary of state at a Hillsborough dinner table, or a churchman, or an IRA or UDA commander in a west Belfast bar. And she could write about any of them, gently but devastatingly - yet respecting them. She never mocked and she never dehumanised anyone, even when she met and wrote about the most dreadful people."
Mr Tony Kennedy, chief executive of peace-building charity Co-operation Ireland, said Mary Holland covered the North for nearly 30 years with sensitivity and truthfulness, always displaying "an understanding and appreciation for the perspectives of ordinary people from all communities".
The president of the Human Rights Commission, Dr Maurice Manning, said: "Mary Holland's commitment to human rights in the widest possible sense was lifelong and profound. History will see her as someone who made a genuine difference."