Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 19 Nov 1974

Vol. 276 No. 1

Death of the President.

The Taoiseach

The House will have learned with profound regret of the death early on Sunday morning last of Erskine Childers, President of Ireland.

Erskine Childers was born in London in December, 1905. He had a distinguished academic career, finishing with his achievement of the history tripos BA in Trinity College, Cambridge. He entered business in Dublin in the 1930s and in 1938 was elected to this House as Deputy for the constituency of Athlone-Longford. He continued to serve the people as a Member of this House for the next 35 years representing the constituencies of Longford-Westmeath from 1948-1961 and Monaghan from 1961 until 1973.

While he was a Member of the Dáil Mr. Childers was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health and later to the Minister for Local Government. He was successively Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Minister for Lands, Minister for Transport and Power, Minister for Transport and Power and for Posts and Telegraphs, and finally Tánaiste and Minister for Health. The range and variety of responsibility attaching to these posts illustrate well the versatility of the man, his knowledge of affairs and his deep commitment to the welfare of the people he served.

He was distinguished during his career by the many honours conferred on him. In 1974 he received from the King of the Belgians the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold. He was conferred with honorary degrees by many academic institutions here, including the National University of Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He was an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of King's Inns.

In June, 1973, he attained the apex of his career. Many of the Members of this House were present when he entered into the Office of President of Ireland. On that occasion, in St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle, he took the oath required by the Constitution, solemnly declaring his intention to uphold the law and dedicate his abilities to the service and welfare of the people of Ireland. He pursued these high ideals with the energy and sense of purpose he brought to everything he did.

He was a man of peace, constructive in his ideals. He sought to improve the health services, the forestry, tourist, transport, telephone and postal systems and to promote the concept of community involvement in the welfare of the people. He had a particular interest in the development of services for the youth of the country. He brought to his many tasks a well-informed mind, a keen intelligence and an abiding sense of compassion for those on whose behalf he worked. He never spoke with rancour; if he criticised it was always with a gentleness that left no hurt. One knew that he was acting, in everything he did, from what he conceived to be the highest of motives—the good of the people.

I should like to inform the House now that the Government have designated Thursday, 21st November, as a Day of National Mourning in honour of his memory. Government offices will be closed until 2 p.m. on that day.

I would ask the Members of the House, when the other speakers have finished speaking, to rise as a mark of respect and of regret at the passing of this good man and true patriot and to indicate to the Ceann Comhairle their desire that he should convey to Mrs. Childers our sympathy on the grievous loss which she and her family have suffered.

Faoi mar a dubhairt mé cheana, bhí treith na huaisleachta ag baint le Erskine Childers i ngach rud a dhein sé. Is cúis bhróin dúinn go léir a bhás. I bhflaitheas Dé go raibh a anam.

I move:

That the House, as a mark of its regret on the death of President Childers, stand adjourned for the remainder of this week.

Mr. J. Lynch

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I would like on this sad occasion to pay tribute to the memory of our late President and to extend to his widow and family our sincere sympathy.

Erskine Childers entered Dáil Éireann in 1938 and on leaving it 35 years later he was one of its senior Deputies. For periods totalling 22 years he was in office, either as Parliamentary Secretary or Minister in five Departments. Of them all he made no secret that he got the greatest feeling of achievement from his time as Tánaiste and Minister for Health because, as he said, his work there was concerned with the whole behaviour of human beings.

He had inherited from his father the desire to seek out all that was "wonderful and glorious" in life and he sought in accordance with paternal advice to view the world with curiosity and interest. He held that one must be interested in people in their troubles, in their glory and even in their wickedness. While not of Irish birth himself, he exemplified our diversity as a people. He evoked the admiration and affection of the people in a unique way but he reciprocated those feelings without stint.

History will judge Erskine Childers well for his many gifts and virtues but, above all, history will judge him well because he was a loving man. He loved his family, he loved his nation, he loved his people. We are orphaned by his death. I re-echo the words of Archbishop Buchanan, that we need feel no sorrow for the President because he is with God and with all the Irish saints. While we are sorrowful, we need not feel diminished because "a great death quickens all life".

History will judge Erskine Childers well because he was a magnanimous man. He saw the futility of strife and division and sought to end it. He offered the hand of friendship to past adversaries and it is only fair to say that his magnanimity was matched by former foes.

History will judge Erskine Childers well because he was a wise and just man, and a man of vision. He urged us to look to the future and to preserve what was best in our culture, in our traditions and in our way of life. He urged us to hearken to the poor and the disabled of this and other lands.

He likened the art of politics to the cultivation of a garden. He brought to all his Departments a devoted gardener's great sense of dedication and attention to detail.

As President he was conscious of the constitutional restraints placed on the holder of that office: that he could not dictate policy, but he believed that the President should be able to look into the future and speak on the shaping of the nation; and he did.

He became a great champion of youth and of the voluntary organisations and he preached the doctrine that the people should have a sense of involvement in the progress of the nation: that they should feel that they were contributing to every additional acre sown and every additional industrial wheel turning over.

There is a lesson in his lifetime of dedication for each of us here, and for every citizen. His timeless energy in the public service, his scrupulous conscience, and his unflagging idealism ennobled politics. The concern of Erskine Childers was an eloquent vindication of the political vocation and an example to the youth of the nation that in a democratic society a political concern offers a worthy avenue towards serving our fellowman.

This honest and good man laboured through a long life in the service of his fellow citizens and remained untouched by any trace of cynicism. He remained an idealist to his last heartbeat. He must surely be a model for all young men and women whose aim is to serve their people, either in political life or in any other one of community service.

Erskine Childers would have them embark upon such a pilgrimage of service as he did with charity towards all, and with malice towards none. His life has, indeed, been a worthy pilgrim's progress.

I should like to finish by citing a beautiful invocation from a poem by Mgr. Pádraig de Brún:

A Thiarna, sa lá san a mhothó mé im aonar

Á, bi liom i dtrath an tsolais a mhaolú.

Thar cheann Fianna Fáil sé mo ghuí go dtabharfaidh Dia sólas dá bhaintreach agus dá mhuintir.

Leaba imeasc naomh na h-Éireann go raibh aige.

The Tánaiste

A Cheann Chomhairle, is lag a chuimhníos go bhfeicfí Erskine Childers os cionn cláir. Fear é a bhain an oiread sin de shásamh as an saol agus a chaith a bheo ar son tíre agus ar mhaithe le leas an phobail i gcoitinne. Ní raibh aige ach seal gairid mar Uachtarán ach bhí mórán dá chuid oibre curtha i gcríoch aige, ach go háirithe mar Aire Sláinte. Is sa chúram sin a tháinig bláth faoina shaothar. Mairfidh an crann ach faraoir ní mhaireann an lámh do cuir.

Ba mhaith liom thar mo cheann féin, agus thar ceann Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre ár gcombhrón a chur in iúl dá bhaintreach, dá dhaoine muintire agus dá ghaolta ar a mbriseadh agus ar ár mbriseadh araon.

On behalf of the Labour Party and myself I wish to express heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. Childers and to the other members of the Childers family.

The death of a President should not obscure the deep personal loss suffered by his wife and immediate family and all of us will pray that God in His mercy will comfort and sustain them in the months and years ahead.

Erskine Childers was a man of peace. His most precious legacy is the example of his devotion as Deputy, Minister and President to the cause of peace and reconciliation on this island. By birth, upbringing and background he was uniquely positioned to understand every side of the Irish question and he applied his many talents patiently and diligently in healing old wounds and in promoting understanding.

He was part of a generation whose great contribution to history was to bring peace to this country and then to use that peace to improve the lives of ordinary people.

One of the most enduring monuments of his years of endeavour in this House, in Government and as President of our country, will surely be the changes he introduced in the health services during his last period in Government as Minister for Health which was one of the happiest and most fruitful in a busy and eventful career.

He used that time to transform the administrative basis of the health services. This was an exciting and worthwhile innovation and on its own would be sufficient vindication for a long public career. But to it can be added many other imaginative developments in the legislation and public administration of our country. Taken all together they constitute a most important contribution to the new Ireland.

His voice in these last few troubled years was at all times one of moderation, tolerance and compassion. He was fearless in denouncing violence, and his condemnation of those who supported it was forthright. His calm and reasoned utterances, both in this House and in public, helped to steer us through very dangerous times with our democratic institutions intact and our constitution unimpaired.

It was fitting that at the end of his career he should have been the ultimate protector of the constitution and the first citizen of a country he had grown to love and serve so devotedly. As President he added a new dimension to that office, one which will be quickly imitated and followed by his successors.

His tragic death after such a short period in office has robbed us of a great public servant and a great Irishman. We ask God to reward him for all his endeavours on behalf of the entire Irish people.

Question put and agreed to unanimously.

Members rose in their places.

The Dáil adjourned at 3.20 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 26th November, 1974.