Cúis méala agus bróin dúinn go léir Dubhghlas de híde, céad Uachtarán na hÉireann agus Bunaitheoir Chonradh na Gaeilge, a bheith ar lár. Solas na bhFlaitheas dá anam. Tá cumha ar Éirinn inniu i ndiaidh a mic dhílis a chaith a shaol agus a dhúthracht go fíriúil ar a son. An fhaid a mhairfidh Náisiún na hÉireann beidh cuimhne ar an gCraoibhín Aoibhinn agus ar ar dhein sé chun teanga agus saíocht ár sinsir a shlándáil ón éag a bhí ag bagairt orthu, agus chun spéis agus gean an phobail a mhúscailt athuair iontu.
Is deacair dóthain molta a thabhairt don Chraoibhín mar fhear agus mar Éireannach. B'oidhre é ar dhá shruth oideasa—oideas uasal na dtírghráitheoirí agus na scoláirí Protastúnacha a thug Charlotte Brooke, Davis, Petrie, Ferguson agus a lán eile den náisiún, agus oideas beo na Gaeltachta a léirigh sé chomh maith sin ina chnuasachta d'Amhráin Grá Chúige Chonnacht agus d'Amhráin Diaga Chúige Chonnacht.
B'údar éifeachtach Béarla é chomh maith, agus fear a raibh cultúr doimhin, iomlán ag baint leis. Bhí Amharclann na Mainistreach faoi chomaoin aige—thug sé an chéad dráma Gaeilge dúinn. D'fhéadfaí a rá ina thaobh go mba chomhartha agus comh-bhunaitheoir é ar ré órdha i stair na tíre, a raibh Gaelachas agus Gall-Ghaelachas "ag imirt a gcleasa ar aon taobh" mar adúirt an Laoi, ag obair trí mheán dhá theanga ar son na tíre agus na cúise céanna. Agus d'fhéadfaí a rá gurb é an Craoibhín an droichead idir na Gaeil agus na Gall-Ghaeil.
With the death of Dr. Douglas Hyde there has passed from the Irish scene one whose name will occupy a permanent and unique place in the records of Irish history. Dr. Hyde's life was a very long, very full and very varied one. No Irishman of our time, or indeed of any time, played a greater part in shaping the history of his own age and few men have ever carried so many distinctions with so much modesty.
My first personal acquaintance with the late Dr. Douglas Hyde was made in the lecture rooms of University College, Dublin, where he had dedicated himself to the task of reminding his students that a country that forgets its past deserves no future.
From his youth he had embarked on a course which, contrary to his origins or his upbringing, led him into the struggle to save for posterity that distinctive Irish culture of which the native language of Ireland was the repository. His resources in this struggle were few, but his will was strong and his capacity for inspiring support and enthusiasm immeasurable.
In 1892, addressing the Irish National Literary Society, Douglas Hyde declared that in recent times the Irish people were ceasing to be Irish without becoming English. That was the position in which he found Ireland immediately after the death of Parnell. The following year, with the establishment of the Gaelic League, what appeared to have been a lost cause was becoming a living movement. From the moment he undertook that work it became his whole life work.
The founding of the Gaelic League was largely responsible for influencing the course of subsequent Irish history. It aroused the dormant spirit of the people and stimulated their intellectual, social, political and artistic activities. The league brought together the best minds of the younger generation and created the outlet for which they had long been seeking. A new generation came to realise the value of their own language and culture in reawakening a people's spirit to a realisation of an ancient and separate nationhood.
In paying tribute to Dr. Douglas Hyde it is not enough merely to recount his great services to the Irish language and its literature. It would be to fail in our appreciation of the full extent of his services to Ireland if one neglected the part he played in creating in his own time a distinctive Irish culture in the English language as well as in the Irish language. Even if Dr. Hyde had never established the Gaelic League he would still occupy a remarkable place in the history of Ireland's civilisation for the part he played in opening unknown vistas of their own land, their own people and their own civilisation to John Millington Synge, to William Butler Yeats, to Lady Gregory—to all these great Irishmen and women who, with Douglas Hyde, created the Abbey Theatre.
In 1938 the nation expressed its gratitude to Dr. Hyde and its appreciation of his life work when he was unanimously elected first President of Ireland.
I ask you, a Chinn Chomhairle, to convey to his relatives the sympathy of Dáil Éireann.
