A book of condolences opened this afternoon at the constituency office of former minister for finance Brian Lenihan, who died yesterday morning.
Mr Lenihan, who was a unique politician for whom there was deep affection across party lines, even among people who disagreed fundamentally with his policies, died aged 52 from pancreatic cancer.
Hundreds of sympathisers queued to pay their respects at Mr Lenihan's constituency office at Laurel Lodge, Castleknock, where a book of condolence was open for signature at 1pm and remained open until 6pm.
A persuasive speaker, Mr Lenihan managed to get support from his Fianna Fáil colleagues and his coalition partners in the Green Party for his austerity budgets after he took over as minister for finance in May 2008.
While some of his policies, particularly the blanket bank guarantee of September 2008, were highly controversial, Mr Lenihan was always held in high regard by his colleagues in Leinster House.
There was enormous sympathy for him when his illness became a public issue 18 months ago and the fortitude and courage with which he bore it earned admiration on all sides.
He was the only Fianna Fáil TD to be elected for one of the 66 seats in Dublin and its wider commuter belt in last February’s general election.
President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday led the tributes to Mr Lenihan.
The President said the “untimely death of such a young and talented public servant” was distressing for all his family, friends and colleagues.
Mr Kenny said he was deeply saddened to learn of Mr Lenihan’s death. “He exemplified wonderful courage of an enormous extent in speaking publicly about the illness that he carried so courageously, about the difficulties that he was encountering personally in dealing with that illness, which was cancer, and in carrying out his public duties in the most challenging economic circumstances for any minister for finance,” he said.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said Mr Lenihan had fought “a brave and courageous battle” with cancer over the past 18 months and that he had never once flinched from his public duties. “He showed an unceasing and untiring commitment to tackling the economic crisis facing this country. Even when receiving debilitating treatment, Brian continued to work assiduously in the best interests of this country. For Brian Lenihan, that was always paramount,” said Mr Martin.
Mr Martin described Mr Lenihan as an “outstanding” public representative of his generation.
Mr Lenihan was just four months in office as minister for finance when the bank guarantee was made, and for the next two and a half years he had the unpopular task of introducing budgets which imposed levies on pensions, cut incomes and reduced public expenditure and standards of living while bank debts spiralled to fearful heights.
In the early stages he was admired for his no-nonsense stance but during his last months in finance he had to endure mounting criticism for key decisions.
In an interview last April, he described his feelings at having to seek EU-IMF assistance.
“I’ve a very vivid memory of going to Brussels on the final Monday to sign the agreement and being on my own at the airport and looking at the snow gradually thawing and thinking to myself: ‘This is terrible. No Irish minister has ever had to do this before’,” he said.
Former taoiseach Brian Cowen said he had witnessed first hand how hard Mr Lenihan worked and “how committed he was to doing his utmost for Ireland”.
European commissioner Olli Rehn also expressed his condolences. He said Mr Lenihan had placed his duty to the nation above his personal difficulties.
Mr Lenihan is survived by his wife, Patricia, his children, Tom and Clare, brothers Conor, Niall and Paul, sister Anita and mother Ann.
The removal of Mr Lenihan’s remains takes place on Monday at St Mochta’s Church, Porterstown, arriving at 6pm. His funeral will take place on Tuesday, after 11am Mass to St David’s Church Graveyard, Kilsallaghan.
