Tributes have been paid to the author James Plunkett, who died in Dublin yesterday at the age of 83.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, described him as "one of the most important writers of his generation", while the Dublin Lord Mayor, Mr Dermot Lacey, said "his efforts to highlight the plight of Dublin's working class will be remembered in the years following his death".
RTÉ director-general, Mr Bob Collins, paid tribute to Plunkett's "huge contribution" not only to the State broadcaster but to the cultural life of the nation.
Plunkett's first story The Mother appeared in The Bell when he was aged 21. In 1969, he published Strumpet City which was later made into a RTÉ drama. The programme was dubbed into 26 languages - including Russian, Albanian and Arabic - while the novel itself was a bestseller in Ireland and overseas.
The rights were sold in the US for a reported $100,000.
His other works included the short-story collection The Trusting and the Maimed, novels Farewell Companions and The Circus Animals, and a stage play, The Risen People, which was premiered at the Abbey and performed in London and Belfast.
Throughout he retained a social conscience and campaigning drive. In June 1979 he joined a number of other prominent artists in occupying the Wood Quay site in Dublin in a last-ditch attempt to prevent its demolition for the construction of civic offices.
A member of Aosdána, he was just before his death collaborating with RTÉ on a tribute documentary of his life and works, which is due to be broadcast over the next couple of weeks.
Plunkett, who died in a Dublin nursing home early yesterday, was pre-deceased by his wife, Valerie, with whom he had four children.
The removal is tomorrow evening from Carnegies funeral home, Monkstown, to the church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Main Street, Bray, arriving at 6.30 p.m. Funeral Mass will be on Saturday at 11 a.m. followed by cremation at Mount Jerome crematorium.
