Joe Bruton was described as a leader, an innovator and a farmer who only reaped a fraction of what he had sown during his funeral mass in Dunboyne, Co Meath this morning.
Hundreds of political figures, farm leaders, neighbours and friends gathered to remember the prominent farmer who died on Friday aged 99.
In his homily, Msgr Dermot Farrell said Mr Bruton was a “gentle, gracious, humble, mild and loving father”. He also paid tribute to his work in the farming community, locality, politics and as a journalist.
“It was Joe Bruton's leadership qualities, his vision of what can be,his insight, conciliating influence that allowed him to speak with authority for them in very difficult and turbulent times.”
Mr Bruton is survived by his son John, the former Fine Gael leader and now EU ambassador to the US; Richard, deputy leader of Fine Gael; and Mary, who runs a Montessori school in Dublin. His wife Doris died three years ago.
Mr Bruton was prominent in the farmers’ movement in the 1960s and was chairman of the IFA livestock committee in the early 1970s.
Among the mourners present was former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald, An Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s aide-de-camp Commdt Michael Tracey and Minister of State Mary Wallace.
Among the dozens of Fine Gael TDs were Damien English, Simon Coveney, Paul Kehoe, John Deasy, Dan Neville and Billy Timmins. Also present were Ictu general secretary David Begg and IFA president Padraig Walshe.
Mr Bruton was later laid to rest at Rooske Cemetery in Dunboyne on what would have been his 100th birthday.
