‘A lady in best sense of the word’
Chief celebrant Canon Tadhg Ó Mathúna told mourners that Mr Barry and his beloved wife of more than 50 years, Margaret, formed a great team.
“Her death has left us with a numbness,” he said.
“Today we share the loss being experienced by the Barry family and especially by her beloved husband, Peter, and her children.
“Side by side with their sadness the family have a great store of wonderful memories of her life that was lived with love, goodness, kindness and thoughtfulness — so many happy days together.”
Mrs Barry, the matriarch of one of Ireland’s great political and business families, died peacefully in the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork on Saturday after a long illness.
Hundreds of people, including leading political and business figures, attended her Requiem Mass at St Michael’s Church in Blackrock yesterday morning.
The mourners were led by Mr Barry, and his children, Deirdre, a Fine Gael senator who, like her father and grandfather, Anthony, was lord mayor of Cork, Tony, who runs the iconic Barry’s Tea business which has been in the family’s ownership since 1901, Fiona, Donagh, Conor and Peter, and his 21 grandchildren, several of whom read prayers of the faithful.
Tony, who addressed mourners at the beginning of the ceremony, described his mother as kind and warm-hearted and said she maintained those qualities right through her illness.
“My mother and father had a long and happy marriage and we were very lucky to have her as a mother,” he said.
In his sermon, Canon Ó Mathúna said Peter and Margaret shared so much together. “They were immensely proud of their children and their grandchildren. They were a very united family. Today the family are giving thanks for a life that enriched all of them.
“They have beautiful memories of Margaret’s gentle love and kindness. She had a caring heart that reached out to all.
“What I would like to say about Margaret was that she was a lady in the best sense of the word.”
And he paid tribute to the way her family surrounded her with love and care in the early days of her illness.
Soprano Cara O’Sullivan, accompanied by Eithne Willis, Ciara O’Halloran, and Karen O’Halloran, sang ‘Bring Flowers of the Fairest’ before Mrs Barry’s coffin was shouldered from the church for burial in nearby St Michael’s cemetery.
The Taoiseach, who attended the removal on Monday night, was represented by his aide-de-camp, Commandant Michael Treacy.
Among the mourners were former Fine Gael leader and now public interest director of IBRC, Alan Dukes, who won the Fine Gael leadership contest between Mr Barry and John Burton after Garrett FitzGerald’s resignation in 1987.
He spent some time after the ceremony chatting outside to former Fine Gael communications minister, Michael Lowry, who is now an Independent TD for Tipperary North.
Also in attendance were former Fine Gael TD and minister of state Jim O’Keeffe; Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and his wife, Mary; one of the country’s longest serving city councillors, Jim Corr; his party colleagues, Cllr Patricia Gosch; county councillor Derry Canty; TCH director Ted Crosbie; former Cork Harbour Commissioner chairman and former chairman of Aer Rianta, Frank Boland; James O’Sullivan, the head of MP O’Sullivan wholesalers; Richard Martin of RDJ solicitors; Michael Miley, a former advisor to former agriculture minister Ivan Yates; and Michael Collins-Powell, a grandnephew of Michael Collins.
