Dr John Wallace looks at the spectacular but short-lived political career of Donogh O’Malley —the Minister who introduced free secondary education to Ireland in the 1960s.
Donogh O’Malley died suddenly, aged 47, on 10 March 1968. Historian Roy Foster regards him as perhaps the most energetic and charismatic Minister for Education that Ireland has ever encountered. Interestingly, Donogh had married Dr Hilda Moriarty, the inspiration for Patrick Kavanagh’s best-loved poem, On Raglan Road, which was composed in 1945 when Hilda was still a medical student.
Donogh O’Malley was born on 1 January 1921 into a secure, professional, Limerick family. His father was a county surveyor and his mother was from an equally prosperous background in the Shannon-side city.
A new book, Unfulfilled Promise, outlines how Donogh was educated by the Jesuits in the Crescent School in Limerick and also Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare. He was both a bright student and a talented rugby player and he went on to play rugby for Connaught, Ulster and Munster before qualifying as a civil engineer at UCG.
h4. Charles Haughey
Donogh’s first romantic encounter was with Audrey Harris, sister of Limerick-born actor Richard Harris. Sadly, Audrey died aged just 21, as a result of intestinal cancer and she was buried with the engagement ring that Donogh had given her.
The same year, 1946, a downcast Donogh met Hilda Moriarty. Hilda was the daughter of Dr Paddy Moriarty who worked as a GP in Dingle, County Kerry. Fellow Kerryman, Con Houlihan, describes Paddy Moriarty as ‘a good doctor and a brave man’. Stormy seas would not deter him from visiting sick patients on the Blaskets or Valentia Island.
Hilda was a qualified doctor and Dr Patrick Hillery, who preceded Donogh O’Malley as Minister for Education, was in her class in UCD. Hilda’s sister, Dorothy O’Neill, was also a doctor and her brother, Cyril Moriarty, was a pilot with the Royal Air Force.
In 1947, Hilda and Donogh married in Adare, County Limerick and lived with their two children, Daragh and Suzanne, in Sunville — a substantial, animated house overlooking the river Shannon. Eamon de Valera often stayed there, as did Charles Haughey, Brian Lenihan and Neil Blaney.
h4. Eamon de Valera
Donogh entered the Dail in 1954 and spent ten frustrating years on the back benches before becoming a Minister. His family background would have been in the Irish Parliamentary tradition of Charles Stewart Parnell and John Redmond. The family switched their allegiance to Fianna Fáil in the 1930s.
Seán Lemass, who became Taoiseach in 1959, liked O’Malley and promoted him. Donogh took over the Ministry of Health from the older Seán MacEntee in a Cabinet reshuffle in 1965. O’Malley, an immaculate dresser, was a vibrant Health Minister and a ‘showdown’ with the medical profession was averted when he was switched from Health to Education later that year in an inspired and astute move.
O’Malley had a long-time interest in education, though education was not high on the political agenda of the time and the role of the Education Minister was largely that of a figurehead.
However, he quickly moved the political emphasis in education from a concentration on the past to a definite, sustained emphasis on the future.
h4. Patrick Hillery
Paddy Hillery gave up his day-to-day practice of medicine during the 1951 election in order to help de Valera in County Clare and he went on to hold a number of major ministerial posts in his long political career.
The foundations for O’Malley’s educational achievement were laid by Patrick Hillery, a medical doctor, and a Minister for Education from 1959 until 1965. Dr Hillery wanted free post-primary education but the Department of Finance naturally feared the potential expense. In the face of significant political opposition, Hillery was successful in instigating a more committed Government approach to second-level education. In doing this, he created a platform for major political change.
h4. Jack Lynch
Donogh O’Malley took over Education from George Colley in July 1966. He had a genuine interest in schools and intellectual development.
Always seeing the bigger picture, on 10 September 1966 he introduced free post-primary education for all. Strategically, he made the announcement to a group of journalists at the beginning of a weekend. The effect of his speech was immediate.
The move was seen as visionary as it significantly helped poorer families to access secondary education for their children. Free education made headlines and the important legislation was duly implemented in September 1967. Of course Jack Lynch, as Minister for Finance, had to fund the unexpected change.
It was felt that Donogh was ‘running wild’. However, the Minister for Education contended that they ‘were not going to defeat’ him on this. He was unyielding in pursuit of what he believed was both necessary and deserved, and he showed great foresight and tenacity.
The opening up of free post-primary education to all and the introduction of the free rural school bus service were major accomplishments. And he was only Education Minister for 14 months.
h4. Brian Lenihan
During the 1968 election, O’Malley had stepped in to give a speech in the place of Kevin Boland while on the campaign trail in Sixmilebridge, County Clare. During the address, he suffered a cardiac arrest and subsequently died while being rushed to St John’s Hospital in Limerick. Brian Lenihan, unexpectedly, had to take over from him and O’Malley’s death, at just 47, was an unanticipated and dreadful loss to national life. His family were equally devastated.
His wife, Hilda, was the favorite to run in his place in the days immediately after his death. Hilda, a very forward-thinking doctor, had encouraged her husband in his various political projects and she had always seen medicine in a wider social and political context. She had been taken aback by the deprivation that she had witnessed while campaigning for her husband in Limerick.
Dr O’Malley would have been a good choice, however, grief-stricken and uncertain, she initially declined to run.
Later, she campaigned as a self-financing, independent candidate in the 1969 general election in an intense contest for the seat. Following her defeat, Hilda returned to work as a medical doctor. She told this columnist that she always regretted stopping work after she married. She loved dealing with patients and mixing with hospital staff.
Her conversation was always about political issues, poetry, and the medical world. In a way, all three had uniquely intersected in her personal life.
Dr Hilda O’Malley died in 1991 at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. Nonetheless, she epitomised a cosmopolitan corner of Dublin life and the spirit of a long-gone era. Her life was a rich overlap of three diverse worlds: politics, medicine and literature.
Her husband, Donogh O’Malley, had died before fulfilling his true political potential. However, his inspirational changes in the field of education paved the way for subsequent economic success.
Though from a wealthy family, for whatever reason, he appears to have found his greatest satisfaction working on behalf of the poor and the disadvantaged.
“And I said let grief be like a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day”
On Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh.
* Unfulfilled Promise, Memories of Donogh O’Malley [2008] by PJ Browne, is published by Currach Press, Dublin
* Dr John Wallace worked for the Mid-Western Health Board with Dr Hilda O’Malley from 1977 until 1982
About Gary Culliton
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