THE funeral of veteran broadcaster Charlie Bird has taken place in Dublin today.
The 74-year-old died on Monday, March 11 following a long battle with motor neurone disease (MND).
Mourners gathered to pay their respects to the former journalist, who spent four decades reporting from across the globe for Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ before turning his attention to campaigning in later life.
Former President Mary Robinson was among the mourners who attended his funeral at the Mansion House in Dublin today at 12noon.
Fellow journalists were also in attendance, along with his wife Claire, daughters Orla and Neasa and extended family.
In a statement this week, his family said he had “died peacefully in the wonderful care of Wicklow Hospice with his family at his side”.
Following his death President Michael D Higgins remembered Bird as an “exceptionally talented broadcaster”.
“Charlie was a truly remarkable man driven by a deep sense of social justice in the most positive sense,” he said.
“As an intuitive journalist, Charlie identified with causes from below,” he explained.
“His dedicated pursuit of the truth, and immense ability to build warm relationships that would last through life with all those with whom he came in contact, made him one of the outstanding journalists of his generation,” he added.