Cowen honoured to deliver oration at Hillery funeral

TÁNAISTE Brian Cowen has said it was “a great honour” to be asked by the family of the late Patrick Hillery to give the graveside oration at his funeral.

The former president will be buried in St Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton, Co Dublin, tomorrow alongside his daughter, Vivienne, who died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 18.

Dr Hillery, who died on Saturday morning following a short illness, is survived by his wife, Maeve, and son, John. They requested that Mr Cowen deliver the graveside oration.

“It’s a great honour for me to be asked by the family to give the oration at his graveside at the state funeral,” said Mr Cowen. “The Hillery family and the Cowen family have been very close colleagues for many years, and obviously it is there that I will make my considered comments, in a way which I hope encapsulates the immense dignity of the man, his huge contribution as one of the architects of modern Ireland, and a person whose personality was self-effacing but whose achievements were very, very considerable.”

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, who along with Martin McGuinness met with Mr Cowen in Belfast yesterday, also paid tribute to Dr Hillery. Speaking in Irish, he said Mr McGuinness had been speaking with Dr Hillery recently and the former president had been “very, very satisfied” with the progress being made in the north.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Clare, Patricia McCarthy, led tributes yesterday to Dr Hillery at Clare County Council’s April meeting.

Dr Hillery’s removal will take place today from St Francis’s Hospice in Raheny to the Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough Street.

Following a service at 4pm, members of the public will have the opportunity to file past Dr Hillery’s coffin and pay their respects.

Requiem mass will be at noon tomorrow. His cortege will proceed from the cathedral to the graveyard via Amiens Street, North Strand Road and Clontarf Road.