Editing Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh

{{Short description|President of Ireland from 1974 to 1976}}
{{About|the politician|the poet|Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=October 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh
| image         = Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, 1975 (cropped).jpg
| image_size    = 
| caption       = Ó Dálaigh in 1975
| office        = [[President of Ireland]]
| taoiseach     = [[Liam Cosgrave]]
| term_start    = 19 December 1974
| term_end      = 22 October 1976
| predecessor   = [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine H. Childers]]
| successor     = [[Patrick Hillery]]
| office1       = Judge of the [[European Court of Justice]]
| term_start1   = 10 March 1973
| term_end1     = 19 December 1974
| appointer1    = [[European Council]]
| nominator1    = [[Government of the 19th Dáil|Government of Ireland]]
| office2       = [[Chief Justice of Ireland]]
| term_start2   = 16 June 1961
| term_end2     = 22 September 1973
| nominator2    = [[Government of the 16th Dáil|Government of Ireland]]
| appointer2    = [[Éamon de Valera]]
| predecessor2  = [[Conor Maguire (judge)|Conor Maguire]]
| successor2    = [[William FitzGerald (Irish judge)|William FitzGerald]]
| office3       = Judge of the [[Supreme Court of Ireland|Supreme Court]]
| term_start3   = 3 November 1953
| term_end3     = 22 September 1973
| nominator3    = [[Government of the 14th Dáil|Government of Ireland]]
| appointer3    = [[Seán T. O'Kelly]]
| office4       = [[Attorney General of Ireland]]
| taoiseach4    = Éamon de Valera
| term_start4   = 14 June 1951
| term_end4     = 11 July 1953
| predecessor4  = [[Charles Casey (lawyer)|Charles Casey]]
| successor4    = [[Thomas Teevan (attorney general)|Thomas Teevan]]
| taoiseach5    = Éamon de Valera
| term_start5   = 30 April 1946
| term_end5     = 18 February 1948
| predecessor5  = [[Kevin Dixon (attorney general)|Kevin Dixon]]
| successor5    = [[Cecil Lavery]]
| birth_name    = Carroll O'Daly
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1911|2|12|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Bray, County Wicklow]], Ireland
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1978|3|21|1911|2|12|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Sneem]], [[County Kerry]], Ireland
| resting_place = Sneem, County Kerry, Ireland
| nationality   = [[Irish people|Irish]]
| party         = [[Fianna Fáil]]
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Máirín Uí Dhálaigh]]|1943}}
| alma_mater    = {{Ubl|[[University College Dublin]]|[[King's Inns]]}}
| signature     = 
|}}
'''Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh''' ({{IPA|ga|ˈcaɾˠ(ə)wəl̪ˠ oː ˈd̪ˠaːlˠə}};<!-- Pronunciation is disputed. Please see recent entries in the Pronunciation of name section of this article's Talk page for further information. --> 12 February 1911 – 21 March 1978) was an Irish [[Fianna Fáil]] politician, judge and barrister who served as the [[president of Ireland]] from December 1974 to October 1976.

His [[birth name]] was registered in [[English language|English]] as ''Carroll O'Daly'',<ref name="birthregistration">{{cite web |url=https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1911/01531/1620683.pdf |title=Births in the District of Bray No. 1 in the Union of Rathdown, 1911 |website=irishgenealogy.ie |at=Entry Numbers 272–281 |access-date=7 March 2021 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912120409/https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/captcha.jsp |url-status=live }}</ref> which he used during his legal career<ref>''The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal'', vol. 103 (1970), p. 289: "The Chief Justice the Hon. Carroll O'Daly".</ref><ref>''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.</ref> and which is recorded by some publications.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lentz |first=Harris M. |author-link= |date=2014 |title=Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=421 |isbn=978-1134264902}}</ref>

He also 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 of Ireland|Supreme Court]] from 1953 to 1973, and [[Attorney General of Ireland]] from 1946 to 1948 and from 1951 to 1953.

==Early life==
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, one of four children, was born on 12 February 1911,<ref name="birthregistration"/><ref>{{Cite web | title = Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh | work = Áras an Uachtaráin | url = http://www.president.ie/past_presidents/cearbhall-o-dalaigh/ | access-date = 8 July 2010 | archive-date = 18 September 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120918191758/http://www.president.ie/past_presidents/cearbhall-o-dalaigh/ | url-status = live }}</ref> in [[Bray, County Wicklow|Bray]], [[County Wicklow]].<ref>{{Cite web| title = Biography of O'Daly, Carroll (Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh)| work = Archontology.org| url = http://www.archontology.org/nations/eire/eire_rep2/odalaigh.php| access-date = 9 July 2010| archive-date = 7 July 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120707001905/http://www.archontology.org/nations/eire/eire_rep2/odalaigh.php| url-status = live}}</ref> His father, Richard O'Daly, was a fishmonger with little interest in politics. His mother was Una Thornton.

Ó Dálaigh had an elder brother, Aonghus, and two younger sisters, Úna and Nuala. He went to [[St. Cronan's Boys National School]],<ref>[http://www.cuplafocal.ie/our_bray/text/Cearbhall_O_Dalaigh_Lch_72.png Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh at cuplafocal.ie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227001348/http://www.cuplafocal.ie/our_bray/text/Cearbhall_O_Dalaigh_Lch_72.png |date=27 February 2008 }}</ref> 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 (University College Dublin)|Literary and Historical Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucd.ie/lnh/about/L&H%20auditors.pdf|title=Auditors of the L&H, UCD|publisher=University College Dublin|access-date=12 September 2021|archive-date=25 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325124005/http://www.ucd.ie/lnh/about/L%26H%20auditors.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> He also became [[Irish language]] editor of ''[[The Irish Press]]''.<ref name="rte-pres">{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/vote2011/pastpresidents.html |website=[[RTÉ]] |access-date=28 October 2011 |title=Past Presidents |date=19 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111022003534/http://www.rte.ie/news/vote2011/pastpresidents.html |archive-date=22 October 2011 }}</ref>

==Legal career==
A graduate of [[University College Dublin]], Ó{{nbsp}}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 of Ireland|Attorney General]] in 1946, under [[Taoiseach]] [[Éamon de Valera]], serving until 1948. Unsuccessful in [[Dáil Éireann|Dáil]] and [[Seanad Éireann|Seanad]] elections in [[1948 Irish general election|1948]] and [[1951 Irish general election|1951]], he was re-appointed as Attorney General of Ireland in 1951. 

==Judicial career==
In 1953, he was nominated as the youngest-ever member of the [[Supreme Court of Ireland|Supreme Court]] by his mentor, de Valera. Less than a decade later, he became [[Chief Justice of Ireland]], on the nomination of 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{{nbsp}}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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Darby O'Gill and the Little People |publisher=[[Irish Film Institute]] |url=http://ifi.ie/film/darby-ogill-and-the-little-people |access-date=7 June 2017 |archive-date=15 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715220126/http://ifi.ie/film/darby-ogill-and-the-little-people/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, there is no known contemporary reference to this having occurred.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 27, 2009 |first=Fintan |last=O'Toole |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0627/1224249636182.html |title=How 'Darby O'Gill' captured an Ireland rapidly fading |newspaper=Irish Times |access-date=28 November 2016 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220124536/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/how-darby-o-gill-captured-an-ireland-rapidly-fading-1.793541 |url-status=live }}</ref>

He was an opponent of the US bombing of [[North Vietnam]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 30001965|title = Irish Perspectives on the Vietnam War|journal = Irish Studies in International Affairs|volume = 14|pages = 75–94|last1 = McNamara|first1 = Robert|year = 2003|doi = 10.3318/ISIA.2003.14.1.75| s2cid=153710978 }}</ref>

In 1972, Taoiseach [[Jack Lynch]] suggested to the opposition parties that they agree to nominate Ó{{nbsp}}Dálaigh to become [[President of Ireland]] when President de Valera's second term ended in June of the following year. [[Fine Gael]], confident that its prospective candidate [[Tom O'Higgins]] would win the [[1973 Irish presidential election|1973 presidential election]] (he had almost defeated de Valera in [[1966 Irish presidential election|1966]]), turned down the offer. Fianna Fáil's [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine H. Childers]] went on to win the election that followed.

When Ireland joined the [[European Economic Community]], Lynch nominated Ó{{nbsp}}Dálaigh as Ireland's judge on the [[European Court of Justice]].<ref name="rte-pres"/> 

When President Childers died suddenly in 1974, all parties agreed to nominate Ó{{nbsp}}Dálaigh to replace him as President of Ireland.<ref>''Western Europe 2003'' (2002, {{ISBN|1857431529}}), p. 330: "Childers died while in office; he was succeeded by Carroll O'Daly, an all-party nomination."</ref>

==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]].

==Death==
Ó Dálaigh died of a heart attack in 1978. He is buried in [[Sneem]], [[County Kerry]].

==See also==
* [[List of members of the European Court of Justice]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official|https://cearbhallodalaigh.org/}}
* [http://www.ucd.ie/archives/html/collections/odalaigh-cearbhall.htm UCD archives]

{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Kevin Dixon (attorney general)|Kevin Dixon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = {{nowrap|[[Attorney General of Ireland]]}}
       |years  = 1946–1948}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Cecil Lavery]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Charles Casey (lawyer)|Charles Casey]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Attorney General of Ireland]]
       |years  = 1951–1953}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Thomas Teevan (attorney general)|Thomas Teevan]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Conor Maguire (judge)|Conor Maguire]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Chief Justice of Ireland]]
       |years  = 1961–1973}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[William FitzGerald (Irish judge)|William FitzGerald]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine H. Childers]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[President of Ireland]]
       |years  = 1974–1976}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Patrick Hillery]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Presidents of Ireland}}
{{Chief Justices of Ireland}}
{{Attorneys General of Ireland}}
{{Ó Dálaigh}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odalaigh, Cearbhall}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College Dublin]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of Ireland]]
[[Category:Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)]]
[[Category:Chief justices of Ireland]]
[[Category:European Court of Justice judges]]
[[Category:Fianna Fáil candidates in Dáil elections]]
[[Category:Irish judges of international courts and tribunals]]
[[Category:Irish-language writers]]
[[Category:Irish newspaper editors]]
[[Category:People educated at Synge Street CBS]]
[[Category:People from Bray, County Wicklow]]
[[Category:Presidents of Ireland]]
[[Category:The Irish Press people]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish lawyers]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's Inns]]
[[Category:Lawyers from County Wicklow]]
[[Category:20th-century presidents in Europe]]