The House will have heard with profound regret the announcement today of the death of Mr. Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh, former President of Ireland. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Born in Dublin in 1882, the story of his life is part of the history of the political, cultural and economic development of this country since the beginning of the century.
He first worked as an assistant in the National Library and later turned to journalism. He joined the IRB about 1900. He joined Connradh na Gaeilge around the same time, became Manager of An Claíomh Solais in 1903, was a member of the Coisde Gnótha from 1909 to 1925 and General Secretary from 1916 to 1921. He was one of the founders, in 1905, of Sinn Féin and, in 1913, of the Irish Volunteers. In Easter Week, 1916, he served as a Staff Captain in the General Post Office.
He became a member of Dublin Corporation in 1906 and was regularly re-elected to the Corporation up to his resignation in 1932, on his assuming Ministerial Office. His native Dublin was one of the many Irish cities and towns of which he was subsequently made a freeman.
He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1918 and, from then on, was elected at each succeeding General Election up to 1945. He answered the roll-call of the first Dáil Éireann on the 21st January, 1919, and, on the following day, he was elected the first Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann. After the General Election of 1921, he was again proposed as Ceann Comhairle but withdrew his name because of the demands of his post as Representative of Ireland in Paris.
From 1932 to 1945, he was a Minister of State: Minister for Local Government and Public Health for over seven years and Minister for Finance for nearly six years. He was Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1932 until, upon the coming into operation of the present Constitution, he became, on the 29th December, 1937, the first Tánaiste, a post he held until his election as President on the 14th June, 1945.
He was the second President of Ireland and the first to be elected President by a vote of the people of Ireland. He served as President from 1945 to 1959 and, as a former President, he was, up to the time of his death, a member of the Council of State.
Mr. Ó Ceallaigh received, as President, the highest honours that could be bestowed by the Heads of State of France, Spain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, and he had the signal honour of being the first person to receive the Gold Collar of the Pian Order, one of the three Papal Orders held by him. Both our Universities, and that of Ottawa, conferred upon him the honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws.
His warmth and amiability were the personal qualities of Mr. Ó Ceallaigh which struck one most and which endeared him to countless thousands of friends. It is evident that these qualities of his hid great strength of purpose. He had great love of his country and of its culture—and, in particular, of its language.
An chéad óráid a thug Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh uaidh i nDáil Éireann is as Gaeilge a thug sé í—ag an chéad tionól ar an aonú lá is fiche d'Eanáir, Naoidéag-Naoidéag. Ó aois go bás do chothaigh sé a dhúthracht agus a ghrá don Ghaeilge agus do bhain sé feidhm aisti an méid ab fhéidir leis: is amhlaidh gur i nGaeilge a scríobh sé a dhírbheathaisnéis roinnt bhlianta ó shin. Ar a shon san, ní misde dhom m'fhocail scoir ina thaobh a rá sa teanga chéanna. Iarraim ortsa, a Cheann Comhairle, comhbhrón an Tí seo a chur in iúl do Bhean Uí Cheallaigh, agus molaim go n-éireódh ina seasamh anois na Teachtaí atá i láthair lenár meas mór ar Sheán T. Ó Ceallaigh a léiriú.
