The former Fianna Fáil TD and minister for foreign affairs, David Andrews, was described at his funeral on Saturday as a man of great integrity and empathy who played an integral role in the Belfast Agreement in 1998.
Andrews, who died at the age of 91 on Tuesday, was a TD for Dún Laoghaire from 1965 to his retirement in 2002 and served two terms as minister for foreign affairs and was also minister for the marine and minister for defence.
At the funeral mass at St John the Baptist Church in Blackrock, his son Barry Andrews, the MEP for Dublin, said it was “a source of enormous pride” for the family that David Andrews had contributed to peace on the island of Ireland, as one of the four signatories of the Belfast Agreement in 1998.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, former president Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, were at the mass as was Captain Paul O’Donnell, aide-de-camp to President Catherine Connolly.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern was also among the mourners.
In his eulogy, Barry said many had remarked on another of his father’s qualities: empathy. He said his father believed there was a great sense of injustice in the way that Irish prisoners were treated in British jails and had been very involved in the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four campaigns.
That empathy was also evident in his constituency of Dún Laoghaire throughout his long career, including his involvement in pushing for social housing schemes in Ballybrack early in his career.
Barry Andrews said former president Higgins and his father were friends for many decades and it had been a great joy for his father to be invited to Áras an Uachtaráin for lunch with the president for his 90th birthday last year.
“They worked on human rights cases together for years. Michael D was the greatest human rights advocate of this generation,” he said.
Barry Andrews and David McSavage at the funeral of their father, former Fianna Fáil TD and minister for foreign affairs David Andrews, at St John the Baptist Church in Blackrock. Photograph: Alan Betson
Andrews said his father loved people and always had a capacity for making new friends. He said that on a personal level he was devoted to his children, his grandchildren, and especially his wife Annette whom he married in 1964.
“She had taken charge of the children, the household accounts, and various election campaigns. She even ghostwrote most of his autobiography,” he said.
On a personal level, nothing had given his father more pleasure, said Barry, than having a pint in Tigh Johnny Sheáin’s pub in mBaile na hAbhann in South Connemara after a day’s fishing.
Ryan Tubridy, a nephew of David Andrews, at the funeral. Photograph: Alan Betson
The chief mourners at the funeral were his wife, Annette, sons David (aka the comedian David McSavage) and Barry; daughters Mary, Sinead and Claire; his sister Catherine; daughters-in-law, son-in-law; grandchildren, sisters-in-law; brother-in-law; nieces; and nephews.
The broadcaster, Ryan Tubridy, a nephew of David Andrews, was at the funeral with his wife Clare Kambamettu.
Another nephew, Sinn Féin senator Chris Andrews, was also in attendance.
Former president Michael D Higgins and his wife, Sabina, at the funeral of David Andrews. Photograph: Alan Betson.
A large number of politicians and former politicians attended the mass including former tánaistí Eamon Gilmore and Senator Michael McDowell; Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien; Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill; and former ministers Tom Kitt, Liz O’Donnell, Peter Power, Mary Hanafin, and Conor Lenihan.
Fianna Fáil parliamentarians and former parliamentarians who attended were: Cormac Devlin; Shay Brennan; Timmy Dooley; Mary Fitzpatrick; Paul McAuliffe; Shane Moynihan; Catherine Ardagh; Gerry Horkan; Mary Butler and Pat the Cope Gallagher.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the funeral of David Andrews. Photograph: Alan Betson
Former political editor of The Irish Times Stephen Collins and economist Dan O’Brien were also among the mourners.
A number of people travelled from Baile na hAbhann in Connemara to the funeral Mass on Saturday.
[ Former Fianna Fáil minister David Andrews dies aged 91Opens in new window ]