Garret FitzGerald, Ex-Irish Premier, Dies at 85

LONDON — Garret FitzGerald, who served twice as Irish prime minister, helped set the stage for peace in Northern Ireland and shifted the tone of Ireland’s relations with Britain, died Thursday in Dublin. He was 85.

The Irish government said he died after a short illness.

Across the country, flags were lowered to half-staff on government buildings, and a former president, Mary Robinson, struck the national mood when she said, “There’ll be a sadness way beyond the political.”

Mr. FitzGerald, who was prime minister in the 1980s, died just as British-Irish relations broke new ground with a visit by Queen Elizabeth II, the first British monarch to visit the Irish Republic. The queen said Mr. FitzGerald had made a “lasting contribution to peace.”...