During the recess, members learned with deep regret of the death of Deputy Peadar S. Doyle. The late Deputy was a Dublin man, proud of his native city, deeply interested in its arts and crafts, its buildings, its history and the welfare of all its citizens. He first came into public life as a member of the Dublin Corporation in 1918, and he served continuously on that body until failing health, last year, forced on him a most unwelcome restriction of public activities. He was a zealous representative and an excellent chairman. For three years he was Lord Mayor of Dublin and for many years Chairman of the Dublin Board of Assistance. He was also a Governor of Dr. Steevens' Hospital and a member of the Boards of the Meath Hospital and the old Cork Street Fever Hospital. For many years, also, he was Chairman of the Visiting Committee to Mountjoy Prison.
The late Deputy Doyle had unbroken membership of Dáil Éireann for 33 years. At the time of his death he was Whip of the Fine Gael Party and had been, for many years, Whip to the Cumann na nGaedheal Governments.
Peadar Doyle was a skilled craftsman, a trade unionist and a splendid example of the eager and enthusiastic men who found their way into the Gaelic League, the Sinn Féin organisation and, finally, the Irish Volunteers. He fought in the Dublin Union under Éamonn Ceannt in the Rising of 1916, and, like Ceannt, he was sentenced to death. He survived that death sentence only to meet with the poignant loss of one of his sons, who was killed by the Black and Tans during the War of Independence in 1920. Great as was the disturbing influence of the times for one moulded to craftsmanship, culture and the domestic and civic arts—rather than to contention and strife—he was, nevertheless, able, in the crucial years of the struggle for freedom and in the formative years of the State, to put all his energies at the service of his country, which he continued to serve in a selfless manner right up to the time of his death.
Peadar Doyle was a man who never flinched from his duty. He was a builder—anxious always to construct rather than to tear down. He had his own strongly-held views, but he was ever tolerant, friendly and understanding to others. He survived all the upsets and differences of 40 years of Irish public life without uttering a harsh word. It is true to say that, irrespective of Party, all of us in this House who knew him were his friends and deeply regret his passing. So also will his constituents in Dublin, whom he served so ably and so long.
Peadar was a loyal colleague, a good friend, a most conscientious Deputy and a gentleman whom it was a privilege to have known and to have worked with. We shall all treasure many kind memories of him. Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam.
I ask you, a Cheann Comhairle, to convey to his widow and other relatives the sympathy of Dáil Éireann.
Members rose in their places.