FIFTY years ago, on October 18 1976, the Irish government’s Minister for Defence, Paddy Donegan, opened an army canteen at Columb Barracks in Mullingar in Co Westmeath.

Departing from his prepared speech, he said that the “army must stand behind the state” and called the President of Ireland Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, who had referred the government’s emergency powers legislation to the Supreme Court, as a “thundering disgrace”.

The phrase has since entered political lore and more immediately, it led to a chain of events that resulted in Ó Dálaigh resigning as President just four days later.

Bray-born Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the fifth President of Ireland, was originally Irish language editor of the Irish Press, before embarking on a highly successful legal career.

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A strong supporter of Fianna Fáil, he was appointed the youngest ever Attorney-General (at the time) by Éamon de Valera in 1946, and again in 1951, after Fianna Fáil returned to government.

He was made a judge of the Supreme Court in 1953, becoming its Chief Justice eight years later. In 1973, he became the first Irish member of the European Court of Justice.

Following the sudden death of President Erskine Childers in November 1974, to avoid the necessity of an expensive election, the main political parties agreed for Ó Dálaigh to become........

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