De Paor the `fullest kind of republican in French sense of the word', says Higgins

Liam de Paor was "a straightout 1798 dissenting-tradition person" and "the fullest kind of republican in the French sense of the word", according to Mr Michael D. Higgins, the Labour TD and former minister.

Mr de Paor, who died early yesterday aged 72 after a short illness, was a distinguished archaeologist and historian, as well as an academic, journalist and sometime political activist.

"Probably his most significant achievement was to make the archaeological history of Ireland accessible", Mr Higgins said.

"He combined intellectual scholarship with a sense of the story of a people and he understood very well the complex nature of ethnicity. He also believed that the concept of nationhood did not require apology and he disagreed strongly with those for whom folk memory was almost inherently malevolent."

A former colleague, Prof Francis J. Byrne, of University College, Dublin, described Mr de Paor as an extremely versatile man who had so many strings to his bow it was impossible to categorise him: "He was a very good scholar, who knew his stuff, but he was a great man to talk to on almost any subject under the sun."

Born in Dublin, Mr de Paor attended Colaiste Mhuire, the all-Irish school on Parnell Square, before going on to study architecture at UCD. This was "absolutely terrible", he later recalled, and he left after two years to join the Department of Public Works.

It was his work with conservation that turned him to archaeology and early Irish history and it was during his return to UCD to complete a degree in these subjects that he met his first wife, Maire McDermott.

The couple collaborated on archaeological projects, co-authored books and travelled widely together, including living for a year in Nepal in 1964, when Mr de Paor was appointed by UNESCO to advise the Nepalese government on the conservation of national monuments.

Back in Ireland, he joined the Labour Party in 1965, but left in the early Seventies over the issues of coalition and Northern Ireland. He feared Labour's domination by Fine Gael and was sceptical about Dr Garret FitzGerald's attempts to reform the latter party.

He also disagreed with the emerging consensus in the Republic over the North, arguing that the Republic should foster the idea of Irish independence rather than unity. Unionists should be encouraged towards independence, both from Britain and the Republic, and the South should strive for maximum co-operation with them, he believed.

After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement - with which he also disagreed - he said he could not foresee Irish unity. "Unity must mean closer links with Britain, through the Commonwealth or dominion status or whatever. I don't think that's desirable."

For much of the 1970s, he wrote a weekly "Roots" column for The Irish Times, examining the relationship between modern Ireland and the sometimes very distant past. The column was reprised in 1984 under the heading "As We Are", this time looking at the country in the context of what he called "contemporary history".

As a lecturer in UCD in the late 1960s, the staunchly socialist de Paor had sympathised with student radicals who were at odds with the college authorities. By the late 1980s, he admitted his enjoyment in teaching at his old alma mater, despite its "Fine Gael atmosphere".

Not long afterwards, however, he took early retirement to concentrate on the work he enjoyed most. After the death of his first wife, he married Deirdre Glenn. He leaves six children, five from his first marriage and one from his second.