A wide variety of people were drawn to the rich and complex personality of Michael O'Leary, mourners at his memorial Mass in the Carmelite Priory in Clarendon Street, Dublin, were told on Saturday.
Fr Pat Hannon, professor of moral theology at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, delivered the funeral homily to a congregation that included several former Cabinet colleagues of Judge O'Leary, the former tánaiste and Labour Party leader who died suddenly in France last month.
His wife Mary led the mourners, which included his daughter, Aileen Johnston, his sister, Maura, brothers Seán and Liam, and niece and nephews.
Judge O'Leary was a public figure who was a deeply private man, gregarious yet reserved, an activist who was reflective, an idealist who was also a pragmatist, and intellectual who was deeply emotional, a man of the world who was also somehow unworldly, Fr Hannon said.
"He was gifted more than most of us," he said. "He saw things differently from many. He had the gift of hearing familiar tunes in a different key."
There was a restless sense about him, he said, which could sometimes be disconcerting. Perhaps it was the restlessness of the idealist who had to make compromises. He said his family could take pride in the knowledge that he had served his country well, and comfort in the fact that he was now at peace.
John Horgan, former chairman of the Labour Court, said he joined the department of labour when the minister for labour was Michael O'Leary.
He was restless in pursuit of the objectives set for him by the taoiseach, he said, and he wanted Ireland to have the strongest legislation on equal pay in the EEC. "He obtained that."
He also wanted to ensure that employees who were unfairly dismissed had speedy redress, and he achieved that.
"He was compassionate. He returned many times from constituency in tears. He was passionate in his pursuit of social justice.
"For me, and those who worked with him in the 1970s, that was the time of our lives."
Gerry Danaher SC said: "He had qualities that enabled him to make friends from all walks of life and across the political spectrum.
"He was great company. He was extremely well read. He was stimulated by literature, music, philosophy, Irish culture. He was enormously kind."
Tánaiste Mary Harney and her husband, Brian Geoghegan, were present. The Taoiseach was represented by Comdt Michael Murray. Supreme Court judges Mr Justice Geoghegan and Mr Justice Hardiman were there, along with High Court judge Mr Justice McMenamin, former attorney general John Rogers SC and various members of the Bar.
Former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald attended, along with former ministers Conor Cruise O'Brien, Peter Barry, Barry Desmond, and Niamh Breathnach. Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, his predecessor Ruairí Quinn TD and Labour TD Mary Upton.