Serenity marks the timely passing of a man of more letters than St Paul

IT WAS late, for a taking to the church, but still pewter-bright with the promise of rain.

Although most of the streets around Donnybrook Church had been traffic-coned into clearways the night before, the entrances to many of them were now blocked off by gardaí in threes, talking quietly to each other.

Mourners found parking spaces further away than a normal funeral would require, having arrived extra early in anticipation of the crowds. In at the corner where the footpath meets the wall ran multi-coloured tubing linking RTÉ’s outside broadcast unit and generator to light rigs and cameras inside the church.