Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh | |
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5th President of Ireland | |
In office 19 December 1974 – 22 October 1976 | |
Taoiseach | Liam Cosgrave |
Preceded by | Erskine H. Childers |
Succeeded by | Patrick Hillery |
Judge of the European Court of Justice | |
In office 10 March 1973 – 19 December 1974 | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | European Council |
4th Chief Justice of Ireland | |
In office 16 June 1961 – 22 September 1973 | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | Éamon de Valera |
Preceded by | Conor Maguire |
Succeeded by | William FitzGerald |
Judge of the Supreme Court | |
In office 3 November 1953 – 22 September 1973 | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | Seán T. O'Kelly |
9th Attorney General of Ireland | |
In office 14 June 1951 – 11 July 1953 | |
Taoiseach | Éamon de Valera |
Preceded by | Charles Casey |
Succeeded by | Thomas Teevan |
In office 30 April 1946 – 18 February 1948 | |
Taoiseach | Éamon de Valera |
Preceded by | Kevin Dixon |
Succeeded by | Cecil Lavery |
Personal details | |
Born |
Cearbhall Aedan Ó Dálaigh 12 February 1911 Bray, Wicklow, Ireland |
Died |
21 March 1978 67) Portobello, Dublin, Ireland | (aged
Cause of death | Coronary thrombosis |
Resting place | Sneem, Kerry, Ireland |
Nationality | Irish |
Political party | Fianna Fáil |
Spouse(s) |
Máirín Uí Dhálaigh (m. 1943) |
Parents |
|
Alma mater | |
Profession |
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (12 February 1911 – 21 March 1978; Irish pronunciation: [ˈcaɾˠwəlˠ oː ˈd̪ˠaːlˠə]) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, judge and barrister who served as the 5th President of Ireland from December 1974 to October 1976. He served as a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1973 to 1974, Chief Justice of Ireland from 1961 to 1973, a judge of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1973 and Attorney General of Ireland from 1946 to 1948 and 1951 to 1953.
His name is sometimes given in the alternative spelling of Carroll O'Daly,[1] which he also used during his legal career.[2][3]
Early life
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, one of four children, was born on 12 February 1911,[4] in Bray, County Wicklow.[5] His father was a shopkeeper with little interest in politics.
Cearbhall had an elder brother, Aonghus, and two younger sisters, Úna and Nuala. He went to St. Cronan's Boys National School,[6] and later to Synge Street CBS in Dublin. While attending University College Dublin, he became auditor of An Cumann Gaelach and of the Literary and Historical Society.[7] He also became Irish language editor of the Irish Press.[8]
Career
A graduate of University College Dublin, Ó Dálaigh was a committed Fianna Fáil supporter who served on the party's National Executive in the 1930s; he became Ireland's youngest Attorney General in 1946, under Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, serving until 1948. Unsuccessful in Dáil and Seanad elections in 1948 and 1951, he was re-appointed as Attorney General in 1951; in 1953, he was appointed as the youngest-ever member of the Supreme Court by his mentor, de Valera. Less than a decade later, he became Chief Justice when selected by the then Taoiseach Seán Lemass. He was a keen actor in his early years, and became a close friend of actor Cyril Cusack. It is commonly stated that Ó Dálaigh and Cusack picketed the Dublin launch of Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People in 1959, for what they felt was the film's stereotyping of Irish people.[9] However, there is no known contemporary reference to this having occurred.[10]
In 1972, Taoiseach Jack Lynch suggested to the opposition parties that they agree to nominate Ó Dálaigh to become President of Ireland when President de Valera's last term ended in June of the following year. Fine Gael, confident that its prospective candidate Tom O'Higgins would win the 1973 presidential election (he had almost defeated de Valera in 1966), turned down the offer. Fianna Fáil's Erskine H. Childers went on to win the election.
When Ireland joined the European Economic Community, Lynch appointed Ó Dálaigh as Ireland's judge on the European Court of Justice.[8] When President Childers died suddenly in 1974, all parties agreed to nominate Ó Dálaigh to replace him.[11]
President of Ireland
Ó Dálaigh's tenure as President proved to be contentious. While popular with Irish language speakers and with artists, and respected by many Republicans, he had a strained relationship with the Coalition government particularly with Conor Cruise O'Brien and with Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave.
His decision, in 1976, to exercise his power to refer a bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality brought him into conflict with the Fine Gael-Labour National Coalition. Following the assassination of the British Ambassador to Ireland, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 23 July 1976, the government announced its intention to declare a state of emergency. Ó Dálaigh referred the resulting bill, the Emergency Powers Bill,[12] to the Supreme Court. When the court ruled that the bill was constitutional, he signed the bill into law on 16 October 1976.[13] On the same day, an IRA bomb in Mountmellick killed Michael Clerkin, a member of the Garda Síochána, the country's police force.[14] Ó Dálaigh's actions were seen by government ministers to have contributed to the killing of this Garda. On the following day, Minister for Defence Paddy Donegan, visiting a barracks in Mullingar to open a canteen, attacked the President for sending the bill to the Supreme Court, calling him a "thundering disgrace".[15] [16][17] Ó Dálaigh's private papers show that he considered the relationship between the President (as Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces) and the Minister for Defence had been "irrevocably broken" by the comments of the Minister in front of the army Chief of Staff and other high-ranking officers.[18] Donegan offered his resignation, but Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave refused to accept it. This proved the last straw for Ó Dálaigh, who believed that Cosgrave had additionally failed to meet his constitutional obligation to regularly brief the President.[18] He resigned from the presidency on 22 October 1976, "to protect the dignity and independence of the presidency as an institution".[13] He was succeeded by Patrick Hillery.
Death
Ó Dálaigh died in 1978, less than two years after resigning the presidency. He is buried in Sneem, County Kerry.
See also
References
- ↑ Harris M. Lentz, Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 (2014, ISBN 1134264909), p. 421
- ↑ The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal, vol. 103 (1970), p. 289: "The Chief Justice the Hon. Carroll O'Daly".
- ↑ Survey of Current Affairs (1974), p. 471: "IRISH REPUBLlC: NEW PRESIDENT It was announced on 29 November that Mr Carroll O'Daly was to be the fifth President of the Republic of Ireland. The inauguration is scheduled to take place on 20 December.
- ↑ "Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh". Áras an Uachtaráin. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ↑ "Biography of O'Daly, Carroll (Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh)". Archontology.org. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
- ↑ Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh at cuplafocal.ie Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Auditors of the L&H, UCD" (PDF). University College Dublin.
- 1 2 "Past Presidents". RTÉ. 19 October 2011. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- ↑ "Darby O'Gill and the Little People". Irish Film Institute. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- ↑ O'Toole, Fintan (June 27, 2009). "How 'Darby O'Gill' captured an Ireland rapidly fading". Irish Times. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ↑ Western Europe 2003 (2002, ISBN 1857431529), p. 330: "Childers died while in office; he was succeeded by Carroll O'Daly, an all-party nomination."
- ↑ "Emergency Powers Act, 1976". Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- 1 2 Joseph Lee, Ireland, 1912–1985: Politics and Society, Cambridge University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-521-37741-2 p. 482
- ↑ "Programme 4: Garda Michael Clerkin". RTÉ News.
- ↑ Don Lavery, correspondent for the Westmeath Examiner, RTE This Week, 22 October 2006 Archived 4 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Lavery, Don (6 January 2007). "My part in downfall of a President over the 'thundering disgrace' debacle". Irish Independent.
- ↑ O'Toole, John; Dooney, Sean (24 July 2009). Irish Government Today. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. – via Google Books.
- 1 2 Fanning, Ronan (29 October 2006). "The many resignations of O Dalaigh". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
External links
Legal offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Kevin Dixon |
Attorney General of Ireland 1946–1948 |
Succeeded by Cecil Lavery |
Preceded by Charles Casey |
Attorney General of Ireland 1951–1953 |
Succeeded by Thomas Teevan |
Preceded by Conor Maguire |
Chief Justice of Ireland 1961–1973 |
Succeeded by William FitzGerald |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by Erskine H. Childers |
President of Ireland 1974–1976 |
Succeeded by Patrick Hillery |