Niamh Bhreathnach, the former Minister for Education, will be buried in Blackrock, Dublin today. 

Ms Bhreathnach passed away on Monday at the age of 77. 

Elected a Labour TD for Dún Laoghaire in the 1992 General Election, she was appointed Minister for Education in the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition that emerged and re-appointed in the Rainbow Coalition of 1994. 

President Michael D Higgins, who served as a Minister in Cabinet alongside her, praised the “extraordinary legacy of educational reform” she left behind her.

"I can recall that we were all possessed of a great sense of anxiety that we must take our opportunity to get changes done and Niamh set about that task with gusto," he said. 

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader John Bruton after receiving his seal of office from President Mary Robinson at Aras an Uachtarain. Pic Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Abolishing fees for third-level education in 1996 was one particularly notable achievement and Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said had inspired him to get involved in politics. 

“Niamh Bhreathnach was fundamentally a primary school teacher in the south-west inner city and it was that reason she got involved in politics,” he told Newstalk. 

“She entered politics relatively late in life, in her late 40s… and in her five years as Minister for Education she created more change than most ministers would do in 20 years. 

“She was the inspiration for people like me to join the Labour party.”

Main image: Niamh Bhreathnach. Picture by: RollingNews.ie