MANSION HOUSE:THOUSANDS GATHERED outside the Mansion House in Dublin on Saturday, where the body of former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald was lying in repose.
From before 11am, members of the public, friends and family queued to sign books of condolence in the Oak Room and under an open-air canopy outside the lord mayor’s residence.
Up to 20,000 filed past the coffin as it reposed at the lord mayor’s residence, according to a Government spokesperson.
Pat Benson, who travelled from Sligo to pay his respects, described the late taoiseach as a good, decent, honourable man and an “insightful politician with no self-interest”.
Prof Hannah McGee, dean of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, said she had come to the Mansion House for professional and personal reasons. “He was chancellor of the NUI and conferred degrees on thousands of our students. On a personal level, my godfather Aidan McGee, who is 85, the same age as Dr FitzGerald, was a great fan of his and asked me to sign the condolence book.”
Mark Buckley from Bray said he had been an admirer of the former taoiseach since the early 1980s, especially his constitutional crusade. “He brought us into the 21st century.”
Vincent Rafferty from Athlone said Dr FitzGerald was a true statesman. “He set the foundations and went beyond territories so that all the people of Ireland could come together.”
Tom Ryan from Leixlip said he was there to to thank Garret for everything “he has done for Ireland”.
Bríd Buckley from Artane in north Dublin described the former taoiseach as honest. “I felt I could trust him. I haven’t seen a politician like him since he was taoiseach.”
Noel Jacob who travelled from Enniscrone, Co Sligo, said he came as a representative of his family. “Years ago, when I was in young Fine Gael, I had the privilege of meeting him at Liberty Hall in Dublin.”
Teary-eyed after leaving the Mansion House, Cork native Susan Eades spoke of her respect for him. "I always read his column in The Irish Timesbecause he was the only politician I could follow, his articles were so clear" she said. "I felt that I had to be here today . . . that's the measure of respect I carried for him."
Those with a personal connection to Dr FitzGerald spoke of his integrity. “I joined politics because of him and his work for the Irish cause. He was a genuine Irishman and represented everything that a person could hope to be,” said Fine Gael party member Dan O’Mahony, from Caheragh, Cork.
Many mourners mentioned the symbolism of the day on which Dr FitzGerald passed.
“It was a sad day but it’s significant that he died when the Queen was in Ireland,” said Nora Ryan. “He did so much to . . . bring about peace in the country.”