Letter to the Editor: 'Time to honour the great Donogh O'Malley'

With the 100th anniversary of his birth on January 17, it is a matter of puzzlement to me that the former Minister for Education Donogh O'Malley has not been acknowledged in a meaningful way by the State, e.g. the erection of a statue in his honour. It is mysterium est.

I have called in the past that he should be honoured in bronze with a statue erected either in the Capital or his native city - I suggested next to Daniel O'Connell, opposite his Jesuit Alma Mater at the Crescent, but this proposal fell on deaf ears.

I also wrote to An Post suggesting that it would be appropriate to issue a commemorative stamp to mark the occasion - horribile dictu, all I got was a curt reply advising me that the stamps for 2021 had been finalised. Bureaucracy gone mad, if the former Minister was in the Telecommunications Ministry, that red tape would be overturned.

O'Malley's Free Education scheme with free transport in rural areas (Bus scoileanna) introduced in 1967 transformed the lives of thousands of families across the country. These reforms in Education laid the foundations of our economic success up to the Celtic Tiger years - it was a masterstroke by the colourful Minister. I would rate O'Malley as the standout pioneering Minister of the 20th century. He served in two other Ministries - Board of Works (as Junior Minister) and Health, where he proved to be innovative and dynamic, speeding up many projects by cutting through red tape ad libitum, to the frustration of his senior Civil Servants - he got things done by over-riding Bureaucracy to the benefit of the Irish people. He was a larger-than-life personality, always accessible with the common touch and knew how to manipulate the Media. On Saturdays he held what he called "confessions" with large queues outside his Limerick office.

Furthermore, I'm amazed that a full-scale analysis of the life and times of Donogh O'Malley has not been published in book format 53 years after his premature death. I would have thought that his good friend, the late Backbencher, columnist of the Irish Times John Healy would have taken on this project -However, he did write a two-part profile of O'Malley for Magill magazine in 1988, 20 years after his death. Surely there was a full-scale tome, warts-and-all, on the former Minister, particularly since he gifted him (Healy) with bound copies of the Dail debates covering O'Malley's career in Leinster House. This was shortly before his death in 1968. Sadly, Healy died in 1991, a missed opportunity indeed.

It is not too late for a historian, academic or journalist to embark on such a project - after all David McCullagh got two tomes out of Eamon De Valera in recent years.

On a personal note, I was once seated next to O'Malley at a reception for a newly ordained priest (the late Fr. Dermot O'Brien of Amarillo, Texas) in 1965 at Cruises Hotel. We had an interesting discussion and knowing O'Malley's Cumann na nGaedheal background and my association with the Cosgrave and Collins Party, he says to me tongue-in-cheek “Leonard, I will convert you one day”. It was not to happen as Fine Gael is ingrained in my DNA.

My best friend, the recently deceased Tom O'Donnell, former Minister for the Gaeltacht and M.E.P. served in the Dail with O'Malley from October 1961 'til March 1968. Despite being on opposite sides of the House in the Dail, O'Donnell and O'Malley had a good personal relationship. They had a mutual respect for each other and a commitment to work together for the advancement of Limerick and the Shannon region. In fact the Corbally man from the Mill Road was very good to Tom and gave the newly elected T.D. encouragement, assistance and helped him in any way he could.

Like everybody else in the country, Tom was deeply saddened by Donogh's sudden passing - his last contact with him was on the campaign trail outside the Well's church near Sixmilebridge during the Clare by-election of March 1968. Donogh, he told me, was in sparkling form and handling any hecklers with panache. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, he suddenly fell ill and was rushed to St. John's Hospital where he sadly died. This was a bombshell and it stunned the nation. Tom and I often spoke about O'Malley in affectionate terms - his charisma, gravitas, devilment and sporting achievements as well as his drinking escapades with his pals Tom English, Jack Bourke and Stuart Klein. He was Limerick's only 2nd full cabinet Minister - the other was Michael J. Keyes of Labour.

Also supportive of my proposal was the former Fianna Fail Junior Minister for Agriculture Ned O'Keefe (Cork East). He kindly got in touch with me and put this in print by writing to two newspapers in support.

When I proposed that O'Malley should be honoured in a realistic way, Tom was the first to ring me and was fully supportive. When I spoke to Tom two days before he passed away in October our conversation centred around that possibility again. No doubt they are now re-united in that great Parliament in the sky.

The question now has to be asked, had he lived longer, would he have become Taoiseach? He had the potential to lead this country to greater heights building on his innovative achievement of the Free Education Scheme. This thought lingered in my mind when I passed by the O'Malley grave in Mount Saint Laurence cemetery recently, reflecting that here lies a Lost Leader. These thoughts sprung to mind on other occasions when I visited Michael Collins's grave in Glasnevin and J.F.K's in Arlington VA. - a triumvirate of great leaders.

Finally, I understand O'Malley's long time ambition was to be President of Ireland, which, in my opinion, he would have easily achieved.

Beir Bua agus Beannacht.

John M. Leonard

Corbally