The cortege was led from his home by a lone piper flanked by Council colleagues. Family members carried the coffin along Bridge Street before Sinn Fein pall bearers including the local MP Pat Doherty, Martin McGuinness MP and local party councillors carried it to the junction of Melmount Road.

Teams of pall bearers representing local GAA clubs, community groups, the Irish language community, old comrades, and representatives from all shades of political belief and opinion took turns carrying the coffin on its final journey to St Mary's Church.

The chapel was packed to overflowing where local priest Fr Pat O'Hagan said there was a sense of disbelief at the suddeness of Ivan's death last Friday night after a short illness. Ivan's own father had died when he was only 38. Even though he wasn't the oldest, Ivan had taken on the role of father figure, something that had stayed with him throughout his life, as "a man of tremendous wisdom."

A painter and decorator by trade, as a young man he was forced, like so many of his generation, to move to England to find work and it was there that he met his wife Judy.

Fr O'Hagan said that Ivan had dedicated his life to helping others. The Barr family had suffered a terrible tragedy in 1985 when they lost their daughter Karen tragically in a fire at the family home in the Ballycolman Estate. Ivan was encouraged to stand for election to the local council in '85 and had served on it without a break until his death. He was also to become the first Sinn Fein chairman of any council in Northern Ireland.

Fr O'Hagan said: "He was a man who despite whatever political differences there may have been, seemed to be able to bring people together. Even if people had major differences of opinion, they were able to recognise the man that he was and the leadership that he had...." But, above all Ivan was a family man.

"Ivan would want them to carry on the legacy he has left behind," Fr O'Hagan said.

During the poignant ceremony, some of Ivan's children and grandchildren participated in readings and presented Offertory gifts, which included artwork from the time he was interned in Long Kesh.

Moving tributes were also paid by Strabane District Council Chief Executive Philip Faithful and in a poem by Ivan's brother Raymond, who said he would always be "my hero." His brother had developed a social conscience at an early age and it had shaped his life, Raymond said.

Mr Faithful described the late councillor as one of the most competent and shrewd politicans he had ever met. Ivan had been a "steadying influence on the council," who brought solutions and compromises to the table.

Oration

Prior to Ivan's burial at Melmount Cemetery, the Tricolour and Starry Plough flags were presented to the Barr family by his colleague, Councillor Jarlath McNulty. Ivan's lifelong friend Liam McElhinney delivered the oration.