I was genuinely saddened to hear about the death of former President, Commissioner, Minister and TD, Dr Patrick Hillery. President Hillery was the first major political figure I actually got to see in the flesh, when he officially opened a new season at Glenveagh National Park. It was the mid-80s and we had gone on a day trip from Letterkenny, and so from a young age he was someone I was aware of.

However, in the years since then I’ve learned a lot more about this normally gentle-spoken country doctor who went on to stabilise our highest office and represent this nation to the world. As Minister for Education he established oral exams in Irish, he set up the system of Regional Technical Colleges and he set in train the process that lead to free second level education. Seán Lemass asked him to take over as Taoiseach on his retirement, but Hillery declined and went on to serve as Minister for External Affairs during the tense days of the early Troubles; he also negotiated our entry to the EEC.

As Ireland’s first EEC Commissioner, he saw to it that equal pay legislation was brought in to Ireland, and so hastened the social liberation of Irish women.

As President, he stabilised an office that had been severely undermined by the untimely death of President Childers followed by the resignation of President O’Dalaigh. Indeed his finest hour, was probably his steadfast defence of this republic during the collapse of the first Fitzgerald Government in 1982, and the attempted interfence of Charles Haughey.

Historical ‘counter-factuals’ or ‘what-ifs’ can throw up some interesting ideas. What if Paddy Hillery had accepted Lemass’s offer of the Taoiseach’s chair? Would the chain of events leading to the Arms Trial have happened? I think not, and Hillery’s famous Ard Fheis line that the Arms Trial rebels could have Boland but they couldn’t have Fianna Fáil bears this out.

Similarly, recently opened papers from the British Government of the time show that London respected Hillery’s abilities and intelligence; and perhaps as Taoiseach he could have intervened more constructively in the earliest stages of the North’s descent into murderous sectarianism.

Another point made in recent days, is that by his very presence Hillery added an air of respectability and public service to the body politic. His generation were not embroiled in financial mis-dealings on the scale of the Haughey-era. Indeed, I think it would have been anathema to the likes of Hillery. Had he lead Fianna Fáil he might have seen of Charles Haughey, and we might have been spared many of the fruits of corruption.

He was a true patriot, a man who used his talents to serve his nation without seeking personal gain, and an example to us all.

Resquiat in pacem - ar dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam uasal dhiograsach dhílis