‘I’ve been a big supporter all my life’
Dublin northsiders turned out in their hundreds yesterday to pay their last respects to the local boy who went on to become one of the biggest political figures in Irish history.
From an early hour, voters from Charles Haughey’s former constituency gathered to bid a final farewell to the former Taoiseach.
By the time the large number of dignitaries had joined the congregation of 2,000 people inside the church, the crowd outside the building was also swollen by about another 600 people.
Although it was perhaps smaller than anticipated, the crowd was good-natured as well as being predominantly elderly, with women outnumbering men by a ratio of about two to one.
It was clear that all those who took time to attend the ceremony were fans of the former Taoiseach.
“I’ve been a big supporter all my life. I remember him from all the Árd Fheiseanna,” said Carmel Murray from Kilmessan, Co Meath.
“I would have travelled the length of Ireland to see him. He was special,” she said proudly.
About 800 people lined up behind the barricades that had been erected around the perimeter of the Our Lady of Consolation Church in Donnycarney.
From 8am, parishioners and supporters from further afield formed a queue outside the church in the hope of being able to occupy seats set aside for the public.
However, many were disappointed but remained happy to wait outside the church for several hours, even though the Requiem Mass did not begin until midday and would last a further two hours.
As Mr Haughey’s coffin, which was draped in the Tricolour, was borne out of the church into the open air by six army officers in full military uniform at the end of the ceremony, the large gathering burst into a round of short, respectful applause.
Bess McNally travelled from her home in Dundalk, Co Louth, to bid farewell to her political hero.
“I’m a long-term fan of Charlie. He was fantastic, especially for old people,” she smiled as she bashfully revealed a badge dating from the 1970s bearing the slogan “Charlie for Taoiseach”.
“The ceremony was fantastic and all the good things said about him were very true,” she said.
Local woman Mary Nibbs was disappointed not to have got inside her parish church. But she was not complaining as she was able to view the entire ceremony on a specially erected large video screen located outside the church in the warm but overcast weather.
“It was really lovely and Charlie was a brilliant Taoiseach,” she said fondly, echoing the sentiment of the majority of those who attended the Mass.
