Shortly after the House adjourned last July for the summer recess, members learned with deep regret of the death of Diarmuid Ó Duibhir, the Clerk of the Dáil. His death occurred, most lamentably, within a short time after his appointment to the post at the beginning of June of this year. Solas na bhflaitheas dá anam.
Mr. O'Dwyer was for many years a familiar figure in Leinster House, the service of which he first entered in 1925 as an executive officer. In 1935 he became an administrative officer and in 1941 he was promoted principal clerk. In 1948 he was appointed Clerk-Assistant of the Dáil, from which post he was selected to be Clerk of the Seanad and Seanad Returning Officer in April 1954. He lectured for several years on central Government in the course for the Diploma in Public Administration at University College, Dublin.
The late clerk was an officer about whom it may be truly said that his greatest ambition was to give the very best of his services to Parliament, and, on the records of both the Dáil and the Seanad offices, he has left behind him a lasting imprint of his keen intellect, sound judgment and broadly-based views. He was well versed in comparative parliamentary procedure and had an unusually retentive memory, and his fund of knowledge and experience as to what was proper and what was possible in the sphere of parliamentary practice was always at our disposal. His pleasant and agreeable manner and his quiet, unassuming efficiency quickly won for him the affection and respect of members of both Houses. On personal grounds, we feel the loss of Mr. O'Dwyer, and, on public grounds, we feel the loss that this House has suffered by the death of an officer whose past achievements had led us all to look forward to even more valuable service from him in the interest of this House for many years ahead.
I ask you, a Cheann Comhairle, to have recorded in the Journals of the House the regret of the Dáil at the untimely death of Mr. O'Dwyer and an appreciation of his services at the Table. I also ask you to convey the sympathy of the House to his widow and family.
