THE President, Mrs Robinson, led the tributes to Dr Noel Browne. She said: "I was very sorry to hear of the death of Noel Browne. He was an outstanding Irishman and will be remembered for his many years of service as a parliamentarian and as a member of government with a deep commitment to the health and welfare of the Irish people.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, said he had always been true to his principles. "The most interesting thing about him was that he literally feared nobody. He did not fear criticism, he did not pursue a fashionable agenda. If he believed something should be said, he said it. I think that he will be mourned by very many people."
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, described Dr Browne as a man committed to struggle, with a deep and passionate dedication to causes.
"He was a loner, of course, committed more to the struggle than to the political life. His allegiance was to the mass of people who struggled, rather than to any organisation.
"For all that, he left a deep mark. His place in Ireland's social history is secure. His contribution will never be forgotten, especially by that generation that lived through the scourge of TB and who have Noel Browne to thank."
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, described him as a "fearless champion for citizens' rights and a passionate pioneer for a quality Irish health service". He added that his vision and managerial expertise in dealing with the national epidemic of TB was an example to everyone in public service at home and abroad.
The leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, said it was impossible to understand today how his advocacy of the Mother and Child scheme could have caused such consternation. "He was a radical thinker and a compassionate man who was ahead of his time."
The Minister for Social Welfare and leader of Democratic Left, Mr De Rossa, said: "He was, in the best sense of the term, a nonconformist, who was always prepared to challenge powerful institutions, to question the established view, no matter what the cost to himself.
"An original and innovative thinker, he had a profound impact on the development of socialist policies in Ireland."
The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, said his lasting legacy to the Irish people was the manner in which he mobilised public opinion and the health services to fight and overcome the scourge of tuberculosis.
The chairman of the Labour party, Mr Jim Kemmy, who once shared an office with him in Leinster House, said: "My own father died of TB in the early 1950s, and I am painfully aware of the fact that if Noel Browne had arrived on the political scene a few years earlier, the lives of my father and thousands of Irish people could have been saved from this terrible scourge.
The general secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, said he had a special place in the hearts of Irish people who remembered the devastation caused by TB to thousands of families.
