Courtney McGrailDomhnall Ua Buachalla: Rebellious Nationalist, Reluctant Governor
by Adhamhnán Ó Súilleabháin
(Merrion Press, €22.99 pb/€65 hb)
Sean Ryan
The subject of this magnificent biography was a key figure in all the major events which went in to the making of the present Irish State, yet surprisingly little has been written about him until now.
Thanks to Adhamhnán Ó Súilleabháin, who is a grandson of Domhnall Ua Buachalla, we are given an insight into the mind of a man who left his mark on the turbulent decades from 1900 to 1937.
Ua Buachalla was one of a rare breed – a patriot businessman – who not only was prepared to sacrifice his thriving business, but also his warm family life, to play his part in the fight for Irish freedom.
Born in 1866, Daniel Buckley, as he was known before his recreation as a Gaeilgeoir, was no eager youth when the fighting started in 1916, but he had already been tested in the fire of controversy through his love for his native language.
His involvement with the Gaelic League since its inception in 1893 was a turning point in his life. He maintained that, at school in Maynooth and Belvedere, he never learned anything about Irish history, but after joining the Gaelic League and starting an Irish class in Maynooth, he then learned the history of his country, through reading.
Summonsed
Although he was far from fluent, his love of the Irish language brought the wrath of the British establishment on his head in 1905, when he was summonsed for having his name in Irish only on his delivery carts. Fined 2s 6d, and 1s 6d costs, he refused to pay and indicated he was prepared to go to jail if necessary.
When the case was heard before a higher court, on a case stated, the Attorney-General decided that the prosecution could not be supported, but the Lord Chief Justice wasn’t for turning and proceeded to a conviction, a decision which pleased Ua Buachalla’s barrister, Patrick Pearse, as “it has forced a British tribunal to pronounce the Irish language illegal – an excellent thing for the language movement”.
This was only one of two cases which Pearse took as a barrister, and it helped to foster a relationship between the two men, which developed through the Gaelic League and the Volunteers, and Ua Buachalla’s son Joe’s attendance at St Enda’s, Pearse’s school.
With seven children, the youngest five years old, Ua Buachalla’s priorities rightly lay with his family in 1916, but it didn’t stop him heading off to the GPO, along with 14 other Maynooth Volunteers, to take part in the Rising. This, in turn, led to a close brush with death – a bullet passing through his body only millimetres from vital arteries.
What motivated such a man? Ua Buachalla revealed in a letter to the newly-formed Naas Fianna Fáil Club in November 1927, the ideals for which he stood: “You must concentrate on restoring to the Irish people the old Irish civilisation, which was clean and Christian and mind-elevating… If Ireland is to survive as a distinct nation, we must restore the language to its rightful place… we must foster our own native games… we must give Irish music, song and dancing pride of place in our homes and in our halls.”
Ua Buachalla believed that he had “a country to know, to love and to serve”, and that was what drove him. After the Rising, he spent time in an internment camp in Wales, before returning in triumph to take a seat for Sinn Féin in the first Dáil as the Redmondites were swept aside.
He spent more time in prison during the Civil War, and was in at the beginning of Fianna Fáil, putting his trust in Éamon De Valera. It was this trust, which led him to take over the role of Governor-General in November 1932, and effectively wind down its importance, as De Valera sought to break another link with the British Crown.
Ua Buachalla suffered a lot of abuse from opposition TDs for his role in this wind-down, but an interesting table of salary and expenses shows that the Governor-General office cost an average of £26,682 for the first 10 years of its existence, but this was reduced to an average £4,000 for the four years Ua Buachalla held the position – largely because little use was made of the mansion in the Phoenix Park.
With the 1936 Constitution (Amendment) Act, the office of Governor-General was abolished (later to be replaced with a President elected by the people). It fell to Ua Buachalla to sign himself out of office.