The Dáil has risen in tribute to former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald who died today following a short illness.
The Tricolour has been lowered to half-mast over Leinster House and Government Buildings in honour of the late taoiseach.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny led tributes in the Dáil this morning, described Dr Garrett FitzGerald as a "truly remarkable man who made a truly remarkable contribution to Ireland".
He said the former taoiseach’s “towering intellect, his enthusiasm for life and his optimism for politics will be missed by all and especially by people in Fine Gael”.
He was “a true patriot, an icon of decency and high honour in public life, whose fluency in economics was balanced by the humility, generosity and warmth of his personal and family life”.
Mr Kenny, who first met the former taoiseach in the 1960s said that as a “leading academic, Garret turned his back on private wealth to have instead a passionate devotion to public life.
“His commitment to achieving peace and reconciliation on this island and between Ireland and Britain, reached its fruition this week on the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland. I know that he had hoped to be present at Dublin Castle last night but his illness prevented him from doing so.”
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore described him as "a shining model of citizenship, of service to the nation, of devotion to the ideals of a Republic and to the foundations on which it stands".
The Labour leader said that “at the historic gathering last night in Dublin Castle, when the heads of state of these two islands and unity, his absence was palpable. For it was he more than any other who was the intellectual and political father of the road that we have traveled together.”
Mr Gilmore said he "relished the role described by his pseudonym used during his first connection with The Irish Times' analyst". Dr FitzGerald, whose association with the newspaper "lasted from the 1940s until the present day", was a "man driven to understand, to confront problems with evidence to weigh facts and to reach conclusions".
The Minister for Foreign Affairs said “Garret FitzGerald stood, in the eyes of the nation, for integrity, for service, for a liberal and tolerant Ireland for reconciliation between the two traditions on this island.”
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the former taoiseach "has served the Irish people with great intelligence, decency and commitment in a lifetime devoted to public service.
“He was a hardworking politician of compassion and ability. He was a prolific journalist of insight and understanding. He was a brilliant academic of versatility and knowledge.” Mr Martin said that “as taoiseach and prior to that minister for forieng affairs, Garret FitzGerald was a strong advocate of peace in Northern Ireland.
“Northern Ireland and the resolution of its problems was a lifetime passion and inside or outside politics, he did what he could to foster reconciliation”.
He added that “Garret was also a strong supporter of the EU and he was passionate about the benefits the European Union could bring to this country”.
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that as a taoiseach, cabinet minister and longserving TD, Dr FitzGerald played a very significant role in Irish politics the '70s and '80s.
“Obviously, Sinn Féin profoundly disagreed with him on key and fundamental issues, particularly around the issue of partition and the role of the British government in Ireland, political censorship and the treatment of republican prisoners," he added.
“But these differences are widely known and there is no need to dwell upon them this morning." He said Sinn Féin agreed with Dr FitzGerald on other issues, especially on social matters.
Independent Shane Ross recalled Dr FitzGerald's "constitutional crusade'' to the Seanad.
“That was the initial move in a crusade, the culmination of which we saw last night in Dublin Castle and what we are seeing all week,’’ he added.
Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn, who repreents Dr FitzGerald's old constituency, Dublin South East, said the former taoiseach was a man of great integrity and powerful intellect.
Minister of State Lucinda Creighton (FG) and Kevin Humphreys (Lab) who also represent the constituency, joined in the tributes.