Domhnall Ua Buachalla

He held one of the most important jobs in the first years of the Irish Free State, but is largely forgotten. He was the man who de Valera put in place in an effort to end the connection with Britain. Domhnall Ua Buachalla (1866 –1963) was an Irish politician and member of the First Dáil who served as third and final governor-general of the Irish Free State from 1932 to 1936, and later served as a member of the Council of State from 1959 until his death four years later.

There were many tributes to Ua Buachalla following his death in November 1963 including this from the Strabane Chronicle newspaper:

BY the death in Dublin at the week-end of Domhnall Ua Buachalla of Maynooth, oldest surviving member of the 1916 Rising, the country loses an outstanding figure in the national movement and in the work for the language. His death recalls the stirring times more than thirty years ago when as Seanascal he played his part in reducing to a nullity the institution and office of the British Governor-General in the then Saorstat Eireann. Domhnall O Buachalla in 1932 complied with the request of Mr. de Valera, then President of the Executive Council, to undertake the formal duties of Governor-General. From his humble home Domhnall filled the office until provision was made for its complete removal. Throughout that period he remained very much in the shadows, shunning all official functions and refusing to accept the very considerable salary and palatial residence which accompanied the post.

Few men would have accepted such office or confined themselves to the minimum compliance with its duties, but Domhnall Ua Buachalla saw an opportunity to further the work he had begun in 1916 and gladly consented to become a figurehead so that the State could evolve along lines he could support. Due to his attitude the once impressive office of Governor-General was reduced to vanishing point and its last holder took a quiet pride in being the Forgotten Man of Irish public life—he who ought otherwise to have been first. On the passing of the Bunreacht in 1937 the post was abolished, but Domhnall had not to accustom himself to a change in style or place of living; at his Monkstown home he signed the assent to the Bill from the Oireachtas and thus gladly legislated his post out of existence. During his years as Governor-General he used the title of Seanascal, or steward, and in many other practical ways showed his support for the native language. English newspapers used to try to make fun of the ageing Maynooth shopkeeper who had for aides-de-camp two Irish-speaking Gardai, but their merriment turned to wrath when it was seen that Domhnall Ua Buachalla was the instrument by which the last vestige of Vice-Regal pomp was chased from Dublin.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )