Page "Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh" Paragraph 3

A graduate of University College Dublin, Ó Dálaigh was a committed Fianna Fáil supporter who served on the party's National Executive in the 1930s, he became Ireland's youngest Attorney General in 1946 under Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, serving until 1948.

Unsuccessful in Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann elections in 1948 and 1951, he was re-appointed as Attorney General in 1951 and in 1953 he was appointed as the youngest member of the Supreme Court by his mentor, de Valera.

Less than a decade later, he became Chief Justice, when selected by then Taoiseach, Seán Lemass.

He was a keen actor in his early years and became a close friend of actor Cyril Cusack.

It is commonly stated that Ó Dálaigh and Cusack picketed the Dublin launch of Disney's Darby O ' Gill and the Little People, for what they felt was the film's stereotyping of Irish people.

However, there is no contemporary reference of this ever occurring.