Allies and opponents of all ages and eras join forces to pay tribute to the Dáil’s greatest gentleman

THERE was a genuine sense of loss yesterday as the Dáil said goodbye to one of its greatest gentlemen.

The phoney sentimentality and the revisionist history that often cloys such events were noticeably absent as the chamber realised that the likes of Dr Garret FitzGerald would never grace its corridors again.

Independent TD and former long-serving Senator Shane Ross summed up the late taoiseach well when he quoted Conor Cruise O’Brien’s remark: “He is as nice a person as you can find in politics, but no nicer.”