seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Tag Archives: Voluntary Secondary School


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Birth of Patrick Sarsfield Donegan, Fine Gael Politician

Patrick “Paddy” Sarsfield Donegan, Irish Fine Gael politician, is born on October 29, 1923, in Monasterboice, County Louth. He serves as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 1957 to 1961, a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1954 to 1957 and 1961 to 1981 and a government minister from 1973 to 1977

Donegan is the son of Thomas Francis Donegan, a publican and farmer, and Rose Ann Donegan (née Butterly). He is educated at Fieldstown and Tenure national schools, a Christian Brothers school in Drogheda, County Louth, and Castleknock College, a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys in Castleknock, County Dublin. After working as a buyer of malting barley for Guinness, he purchases and successfully develops a seed merchant’s and milling company. His extensive farming interests include the breeding of Belgian Blue and Limousin cattle, at a time when continental breeds are new to Ireland.

Bypassing the customary apprenticeship on local government bodies prior to a career in national politics, Donegan is elected as a Fine Gael TD for the Louth constituency at the 1954 Irish general election. He loses his seat at the 1957 Irish general election but is elected to Seanad Éireann as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel. He regains his Dáil seat at the 1961 Irish general election.

In the Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government which takes office after the 1973 Irish general election, Donegan is appointed as Minister for Defence. In October 1976, he makes a speech on an official visit to the opening of new kitchen facilities in an army barracks at Mullingar, County Westmeath in which he describes as a “thundering disgrace” President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh‘s refusal to sign the Emergency Powers Bill 1976. Ó Dálaigh had instead exercised his powers under Article 26 of the Constitution of Ireland to refer it to the Supreme Court. The Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, refuses Donegan’s resignation. On October 21, Fianna Fáil proposes a motion in the Dáil calling on the minister to resign, which is defeated. Ó Dálaigh views the refusal to remove the minister as an affront to his office by the government and resigns on October 22, 1976.

In December 1976, Donegan is appointed as Minister for Lands. In February 1977, this office is restructured as the Minister for Fisheries. He serves in cabinet until the government loses office after the 1977 Irish general election.

Donegan retires from politics at the 1981 Irish general election. He dies at his home in County Louth on November 26,2000, following a long illness. Tributes in the Dáil are led by John Bruton as Fine Gael leader. He is buried in his hometown of Monasterboice, County Louth.


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Birth of Donal Murray, Former Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick

Donal Brendan Murray, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick from 1996 to 2009, is born in Dublin on May 29, 1940. He previously serves as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Dublin diocese.

Murray is educated at Blackrock College, a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin. He studies for a BA and master’s degrees in philosophy at University College Dublin (UCD), obtains a B.Div at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and his License and Doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). He is ordained on May 22, 1966.

Murray lectures in the Mater Dei Institute of Education from 1969, becoming professor of moral theology at Holy Cross College, located in Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra, Dublin. He also lectures at University College Dublin from 1973 to 1982 in Catechetics and from 1978 to 1982 in Medical Ethics.

In 1981, Murray is appointed Titular Bishop of Glenndálocha and Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, making him the youngest bishop at the time, aged only 41. He is appointed as Bishop of Limerick on February 10, 1996, by Pope John Paul II. He is installed as Bishop of Limerick on March 24, 1996.

In November 2009, Murray is pressured to resign from his post after the Murphy Report finds that he had mishandled child sexual abuse allegations within his diocese.

Murray announces his resignation to a congregation, including priests of the Diocese, people working in the Diocesan Office and the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, at 11:00 a.m. (noon in Rome, the hour of the publication of the decision) in St. John’s Cathedral, Limerick.