The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern today insisted the right of the Iraqi authorities to hang Saddam Hussein must be respected.
However he stressed Ireland was opposed to the death penalty and expressed his personal opinion that the former dictator should have died in prison.
"My view is Saddam should have spent his last years behind bars for his heinous crimes," he said.
The minister made his remarks as television pictures broadcast around the world showed the ex-ruler lying wrapped in a shroud, his neck sharply twisted to one side, after his execution in Baghdad.
Michael D Higgins of the Labour party said Saddam Hussein's execution would do nothing to bring peace to Iraq.
He said "The execution may bring some satisfaction to President Bush and the dwindling number of those who now support the invasion, but it will do nothing to contribute towards peace and reconciliation in Iraq."
"Many innocent Iraqis died at the hands of his regime; many more will die in the aftermath of his execution which came at the end of a trial process regarded by most independent observers as being deeply flawed," he added.
Fine Gael's Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Bernard Allen, said that although his party doesn't agree with capital punishment "we must recognise that Saddam Hussein was a dreadful despot with the blood of tens of thousands of people on his hands and was guilty of serious war crimes both against his own people and against the Kurds".
"His execution, however, will deepen the already open wounds in Iraqi society and will inevitably lead to increased violence and bloodshed with further consequences for other parts of the Middle East," Mr Allen said.