Former President of the Workers' Party of Ireland Seán Garland has died at the age of 84.

Mr Garland died today at his home in Co Meath after a long illness.

He is survived by his wife Mary, daughter Caoimhe, and two grandchildren.

Mr Garland joined the IRA in 1953 and subsequently took part in the Border Campaign from 1954 to 1957.

He was on the attack on the RUC Barracks in Brookeborough in Co Fermanagh on 1 January 1957, which led to the deaths of fellow IRA members Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon.

He became a Marxist during the 1960s and was subsequently a leading member of Official Sinn Féin and the Official IRA, following the split with the Provisional IRA in 1970. He was a key figure in the Official IRA ceasefire in 1972.

In 2005, he was arrested in Northen Ireland on foot of a US extradition warrant. The US Secret Service accused him of conspiring to circulate high-grade counterfeit dollar bills throughout the 1990s with officials from North Korea and Russian spies.

Seán Garland fled to Dublin and was arrested there in 2009. He fought extradition to the United States, and in January 2012, the High Court ruled that US authorities had no jurisdiction to extradite him. The Attorney General's office decided not to contest the ruling.

The Workers' Party paid tribute to its former president, with party president Michael Donnelly saying that he was "a unique and charismatic individual whose contribution to Irish political life cannot be overestimated".

"Sean never took the easy option or the path of least resistance", he said. "He always based his decisions, and his actions, on what he judged to be in the best interests of working class people and the revolutionary socialist project."