THEY REMEMBERED him, during the final moments before his burial, in silence and in sadness.
There was no graveside oration, no 21-gun salute and therefore no full military honours; by his family's decision, little of the pomp associated with State funerals. Instead, heads bowed as the Last Postand Reveillewere sounded, and stayed bowed into the silence beyond, as former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald's coffin was lowered into the grave.
This was, in many respects, a very ordinary interment. Here we were gathered in Shanganagh cemetery in Shankill, Co Dublin, not even the cemetery proper but an extension to it. A typical suburban graveyard anywhere, with rows of simple headstones and neatly mowed grass, and a single cherry tree. It felt as though a much-loved patriarch was being buried by his family, or even his many families: the FitzGerald family, the Fine Gael family, the wider political family.
Local people lined the road up to the grave from early afternoon, and waited at a polite distance for the funeral party to appear. The cortege had been expected to arrive from the church in Donnybrook at 4pm, but it was soon apparent that this schedule was over-optimistic.
The wind howled and the skies darkened as the crowd waited and waited, but the threatened rain never came.
Before 5pm, seven Bus Éireann coaches arrived to deliver some of those who had attended the church service, but another half-hour passed before the wind carried the sound of applause and then the sounds of a Celtic lament played by the Defence Forces combined band.
The cortege had arrived, and with it the hearse carrying Dr FitzGerald’s coffin, draped in the Tricolour.
At the entrance to the cemetery, the late Taoiseach’s remains were received by the pall bearer party, 10 senior military policemen acting as escorts for the coffin, and by the bearer party, a group of 10 military policemen whose job it was to carry the coffin.
The military band, the colour party and the escort to the colours positioned themselves nearby, while the 106-strong guard of honour lined the route to the graveyard. For the distance of half a mile the cortege moved slowly up the avenue, to the sombre sound of Army drum and brass.
On arrival at the graveyard, the chief marshal signalled to the bearer party to remove the coffin from the hearse. Dr FitzGerald’s three children, John, Mark and Mary, along with his 10 grandchildren, watched as the coffin was borne aloft.
The chief dignitaries filed into the graveside in a clearly pre-ordained order. Fine Gael Ministers Michael Noonan, Alan Shatter, James Reilly, Jimmy Deenihan, Richard Bruton and Simon Coveney were among those who took their place, along with Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett and Labour Minister Ruairí Quinn. Former taoiseach John Bruton was also present, as was former Fine Gael minister Nora Owen and many of the party’s TDs, including Pat Deering and Andrew Doyle. Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan and Assistant Chief Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan, as well as the Army Chief of Staff, Lieut Gen Seán McCann, stood nearby.
President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin then walked the short distance to the graveside and took their positions. The military band struck up, and the bearer party, led by Sgt Donal Howe, moved forward with the coffin.
Dr FitzGerald’s children and grandchildren followed, and behind them a small group of close friends and guests, among them former president Mary Robinson and her husband Nick, and former EU commissioner Peter Sutherland.
A total of about 500 people were present by now as the bearer party lowered the coffin on to a trestle by the grave, lifted the Tricolour and held it suspended over the coffin for what seemed like an age.
The wind howled but they maintained their stance for several minutes.
Then, finally, it was lowered, and the sergeants in the party folded the flag meticulously four times before presenting it to the chief mourner, Dr FitzGerald’s daughter Mary.
The end had finally come. As the gravediggers moved into place, the chief celebrant and great friend of the deceased, Fr Enda McDonagh, commended his soul to God and his body to the earth. Fr McDonagh prayed for all those who had been buried in the cemetery, particularly Dr FitzGerald’s wife Joan, who was interred in the same plot in 1999.
As the coffin was lowered into the ground, Fr McDonagh recited the Lord’s Prayer and several Hail Marys and delivered a few brief words that were almost carried away by the wind.
“Let us take our leave in silence and sadness, and bring away with us memories of this great man.”
It was the nearest we got to an oration, but in all its simplicity it covered the ground and matched the man.
