Death
Patrick Hillery died on 12 April 2008 in his Dublin home following a short illness. His family agreed to a full state funeral for the former president.
In tributes, President Mary McAleese said "He was involved in every facet of policy-making that paved the way to a new, modern Ireland. Today, we detect his foresight and pioneering agenda everywhere – a free education system, a dynamic, well-educated people, a successful economy and a thriving membership of the European Union, one of the single most transformative events for this country." Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he "was a man of great integrity, decency and intelligence, who contributed massively to the progress of our country and he is assured of an honoured place in Ireland’s history". In the Dáil and Seanad he was praised by all political leaders and parties during expressions of sympathy on 15 April 2008. In the graveside oration, Tánaiste Brian Cowen said Hillery was "A humble man of simple tastes, he has been variously described as honourable, decent, intelligent, courteous, warm and engaging. He was all of those things and more."
Read more about this topic: Patrick Hillery
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“There is something antique, even, in his style of treating his subject, reminding us that Heroes and Demi-gods, Fates and Furies, still exist; the common man is nothing to him, but after death the hero is apotheosized and has a place in heaven, as in the religion of the Greeks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)
“for it is not so much to know the self
as to know it as it is known
by galaxy and cedar cone,
as if birth had never found it
and death could never end it:”
—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)