Editing Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (section)

==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 [[Irish republicanism|republican]]s, he had a strained relationship with the [[Government of the 20th Dáil|government]] led by Fine Gael, particularly with Minister [[Conor Cruise O'Brien]] and Taoiseach [[Liam Cosgrave]].

His decision, in 1976, to exercise his constitutional prerogative to refer a bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality brought him into conflict with the Fine Gael-[[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour]] National Coalition. Following the assassination of the [[List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ireland|British Ambassador]], [[Christopher Ewart-Biggs]], by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA), on 23 July 1976, the government announced its intention to introduce legislation extending the maximum period of detention without charge from two to seven days.<ref name="iln">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishlegal.com/article/irish-legal-heritage-president-dlaigh-s-resignation|title=Irish Legal Heritage: President Ó'Dálaigh's resignation|date=26 October 2018|access-date=29 October 2018|publisher=Irish Legal News|last=Gráinséir|first=Seosamh|archive-date=24 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124191332/https://www.irishlegal.com/article/irish-legal-heritage-president-dlaigh-s-resignation|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ó Dálaigh referred the resulting bill, the Emergency Powers Bill,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1976/en/act/pub/0033/index.html|title=Emergency Powers Act, 1976|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-date=12 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112052404/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1976/en/act/pub/0033/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> to the Supreme Court. When the court ruled that the bill was constitutional, he signed it into law on 16 October 1976.<ref name="lee">Joseph Lee, ''Ireland, 1912–1985: Politics and Society'', Cambridge University Press, 1989, {{ISBN|0-521-37741-2}} p. 482</ref> On the same day, an IRA bomb in [[Mountmellick]] killed Michael Clerkin, a member of the [[Garda Síochána]], the country's police force.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/gardaarlar/09prog4.html | work=RTÉ News | title=Programme 4: Garda Michael Clerkin | access-date=18 November 2011 | archive-date=16 October 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016000844/http://www.rte.ie/tv/gardaarlar/09prog4.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Ó{{nbsp}}Dálaigh's actions were seen by government ministers to have contributed to the killing of this Garda given his delay in signing the Emergencies Powers Bill into law having referred it to the Supreme Court. On the following day, [[Minister for Defence (Ireland)|Minister for Defence]] [[Paddy Donegan]], visiting a barracks in [[Mullingar]] to open a canteen, stated to a reporter covering the event that the President was a "thundering disgrace" for sending the bill to the Supreme Court.<ref>Don Lavery, correspondent for the ''[[Westmeath Examiner]]'', [http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1022/thisweek.html RTE This Week, 22 October 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504054734/http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1022/thisweek.html |date= 4 May 2007 }}</ref><ref name = "Lavery">{{cite news |first=Don |last=Lavery |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/my-part-in-downfall-of-a-president-over-the-thundering-disgrace-debacle-58050.html |newspaper=Irish Independent |title=My part in downfall of a President over the 'thundering disgrace' debacle |date=6 January 2007 |access-date=18 November 2011 |archive-date=17 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017145324/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/my-part-in-downfall-of-a-president-over-the-thundering-disgrace-debacle-58050.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EeX4AwAAQBAJ&q=don+lavery+westmeath+examiner&pg=PT121|title=Irish Government Today|first1=John|last1=O'Toole|first2=Sean|last2=Dooney|date=24 July 2009|publisher=Gill & Macmillan Ltd.|via=Google Books|isbn=9780717155347|access-date=25 November 2020|archive-date=12 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912120407/https://books.google.com/books?id=EeX4AwAAQBAJ&q=don+lavery+westmeath+examiner&pg=PT121|url-status=live}}</ref> Persistent claims arose afterwards that Donegan's outburst was more vulgar than the published version e.g. "fucking disgrace" or "thundering bollocks" but the reporter, Don Lavery, confirmed his original quotation of the minister.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OVciAQAAIAAJ&q=%22fucking+disgrace%22+%22thundering+bollocks%22 ''This Great Little Nation: The A-Z of Irish Scandals & Controversies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727183846/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OVciAQAAIAAJ&q=%22fucking+disgrace%22+%22thundering+bollocks%22&dq=%22fucking+disgrace%22+%22thundering+bollocks%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjo1LGFy6PkAhXqSxUIHSl3CpsQ6AEIKjAA |date=27 July 2020 }}, Gene Kerrigan, Pat Brennan, Gill & Macmillan, 1999, page 287</ref><ref name = "Lavery" />

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.<ref name=Independent2006-10-29a>{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-many-resignations-of-o-dalaigh-26418031.html |title=The many resignations of O Dalaigh |newspaper=Irish Independent |first=Ronan |last=Fanning |author-link=Ronan Fanning |date=29 October 2006 |access-date=7 October 2017 |archive-date=8 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008030900/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-many-resignations-of-o-dalaigh-26418031.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Donegan offered his resignation, but Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave refused to accept it. This proved the last straw for Ó{{nbsp}}Dálaigh, who believed that Cosgrave had additionally failed to meet his constitutional obligation to regularly brief the President on matters of state.<ref name=Independent2006-10-29a/> He resigned from the presidency on 22 October 1976, "to protect the dignity and independence of the presidency as an institution".<ref name="lee"/> He was succeeded as President of Ireland by [[Patrick Hillery]].