'Goodbye Tom. We will remember you forever' - tributes pour in following death of peace campaigner Tom Hyland (72)

In a statement, Mr Higgins recalled how Tom Hyland had contacted him seeking his support for the work of the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign, which Hyland set up in 1992, and they had remained in touch on the issue over the years.

As the driving force behind the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign (ETISC), Tom Hyland made a deeply significant contribution to the independence struggle and establishment of Timor-Leste,

Mr Hyland worked tirelessly to spotlight the plight of the tiny Southeast Asian half-island nation in Ireland and internationally.

In 2015, Tom Hyland was presented with the Order of Timor-Leste Presidential Medal by President Taur Matan Ruak in recognition of his and the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign's role in lobbying key decision makers on the need to deploy UN peacekeeping troops in East Timor in 1999.

Read at Irish Independent