Peter Barry: The tea tester who proved to be a classic blend

From paving the way for peace in Northern Ireland to spearheading the growth of a tea empire, former tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Peter Barry was a man of many parts, a classic blend if you like, which helped make him one of those rare politicians to win respect across the political divide.

The grandson of a blacksmith and the son of a shopkeeper and TD, he was as at home talking and tasting tea with experts in his family’s Barry’s Tea headquarters in Cork City as he was negotiating the Anglo-Irish Agreement in the cauldron of Northern Ireland politics at the height of the Troubles.