Funeral held for former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave
The funeral takes place today of former Irish taoiseach Liam Cosgrave.
Born in 1920, Mr Cosgrave had a 40-year political career and was part of the government which saw Ireland become a Republic in 1949.
He also oversaw Ireland joining the United Nations, addressed the US Congress in 1976 and signed the Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland which led to a short-lived powersharing executive in Belfast in 1972.
Mr Cosgrave died on Wednesday. He was 97.
The funeral mass takes place at midday in the Church of the Annunciation in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
Mr Cosgrave will be buried in Goldenbridge Cemetery, Inchicore, beside his father WT Cosgrave, a key figure in the foundation of the Irish Free State and an officer in the 1916 Rising.
Following tributes from across the political spectrum in Ireland, the Cosgrave family, his three children, Mary, Liam and Ciaran, were offered a state funeral.
At their request the funeral mass and burial will have some trappings of state but it is a private service.
Mr Cosgrave was Irish taoiseach from 1973-77, some of the most turbulent years of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
He has been described as a consistent and courageous voice against terrorism.
He was at the head of government on the worst day of atrocities in the Troubles - the Dublin-Monaghan bombings on May 17 1974 when loyalists killed 33 people, including a pregnant woman at full term.
Mr Cosgrave also covered the cost of his father's state funeral in 1965.
