President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to former US president George HW Bush who has died aged 94.
In a statement, President Higgins said Mr Bush "will be remembered for his long life of public service to the people of the United States and as a President who led his country at a period of significant change at national and global level, between the end of the 1980s and mid-1990s - a period of deep challenges to the multilateral institutions".
Mr Higgins offered his deepest sympathies to the Bush family on behalf of the Irish people.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described Mr Bush as a notable president who left his mark on US politics.
Sympathies to the Bush family on the death of George HW Bush. He was a notable President who left his mark on US politics.
— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) December 1, 2018
British Prime Minister Theresa May has also highlighted Mr Bush's long life of public service, which she described as the guiding thread of his life and an example to us all.
"It took him from service in World War II, to his stewardship of the CIA and his direction of the Gulf War as Commander-in-Chief. And in navigating a peaceful end to the Cold War he made the world a safer place for generations to come".
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Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, hailed Mr Bush's role in helping end the Cold War and an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Mr Bush held talks with Mr Gorbachev before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and signed a landmark arm control agreement with him that significantly cut both countries' nuclear arsenals.
"Many of my memories are linked to him. We happened to work together in years of great changes. It was a dramatic time demanding huge responsibility from everyone. The result was the end of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race," Russia's Interfax news agency cited Mr Gorbachev, 87, as saying.
"I pay tribute to George Bush's contribution towards this historic achievement. He was a genuine partner."
Former British prime minister John Major said he was privileged to have worked with Mr Bush.
"I feel privileged to have worked with him, and even more privileged that he became a lifelong friend. He was, quite simply, one of the most deep down decent people I have ever known," he said.
Mr Major, who worked with Mr Bush in the coalition to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War said the former president was a man who made sure politics was a respectable profession.
"Sometimes people think politics is tawdry. You could have never have said that about the way George Bush behaved in politics. He had opponents but never enemies," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron described Mr Bush as a strong world leader, who strongly supported the alliance with Europe.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said: "In 1989, at a time of upheaval and challenges, when the blocs were staggering and the decades-long confrontation was beginning to crumble, he bravely seized the opportunity to end the Cold War. He is among the architects of German unity. We will never forget that."
European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker hailed Mr Bush for the part he played in bringing unity and peace to Europe after the Cold War.
"I will never forget the role he played in making Europe a safer and more united place following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain," Mr Juncker said of Bush.
Mr Bush's "calmness, leadership and close personal relationships with (German chancellor) Helmut Kohl and (Soviet Russian leader) Mikhail Gorbachev were decisive in restoring peace and freedom back to so many people across our continent," the former Luxembourg prime minister added.
"We Europeans will forever remember this," Juncker said.
European Parliament president Antonio Tajani in a tweet said that "Europe has lost a champion of its freedom and unity during the Cold War."
