[2][9] In a tribute following his death in 2016, President Michael D. Higgins said Justice Hardiman "was one of the great legal minds of his generation", who was "always committed to the ideals of public service".

[13] But he could be an outspoken opponent of political correctness and a supporter of judicial restraint, such as when he rejected the Equality Authority's attempt to force Portmarnock Golf Club to accept women as full members.

[2] He also believed that certain decisions, such as those involving public spending, were better left to elected politicians rather than unelected judges, regardless of how unpopular that might sometimes be in the media (which he tended to hold in low esteem) and among what he described as the "chattering classes".

[2] His concern for individual rights was not confined to Ireland: in February 2016, he criticized what he described as the radical undermining of the presumption of innocence, especially in sex cases, by the methods used in the UK's Operation Yewtree inquiry into historical sex allegations against celebrities, and he also criticized "experienced lawyer" and then US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for allegedly declaring in January that "every accuser was to be believed, only to amend her view when asked if it applied to women who had made allegations against her husband", former US President Bill Clinton.

[32] He said: "The fates have robbed us of someone who simultaneously excelled in his many different personae as husband, father, grandfather, an original thinker, an advocate and, for so many who are here, simply that of a loyal friend."

Ex-TDs Lucinda Creighton, Mary Harney, Des O'Malley and Pat Rabbitte were also among those who signed a book of condolence, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny represented by his aide-de-camp.