Former Irish president Patrick (Paddy) Hillery has died at the age of 84 after a short illness, national broadcaster RTE reported Saturday, according to dpa. Born in 1923 in Clare in the south-west of Ireland, Hillery studied medicine and returned to the county to work as a doctor, as his father had before him. Hillery served two consecutive terms as president from 1976 to 1990, rounding off a political career that spanned four decades from his first term as a member of the Irish parliament, or Dail, for the Fianna Fail party in 1951. Hillery served in various cabinets: as minister for education 1959-65, minister for industry and commerce 1965-66, minister for labour 1966-69 and foreign minister 1969-73, when he successfully negotiated Ireland's entry into the forerunner to the EU.
