FUNERAL OF DOMHNALL UA BUACHALLA

 

 

 

 

President De Valera delivered an oration at the funeral of an tUas. Domhnall Ua Buachalla, the last Governor General of Ireland, in Laraghybryan Cemetery, Maynooth, on Saturday. He said at the graveside that nobility, kindness and sincerity guided the patriot’s life and actions.

God favoured him with a long life and he spent it in the cause of the people. He prayed that God would give him a place in Heaven among the saints of Ireland, with all the others who fell for their native land.

He was a man, said the President, who gave the love of his heart for Ireland, one of the band of sterling people who helped to found Connradh na Gaeilge, who started the Volunteers, made the Easter Rising possible and who continued his efforts until freedom had been achieved for this part of the country.

An tUas Ua Buachalla was given a State funeral. The attendance included the Taoiseach, Mr. Lemass, members of the Government and judiciary, members of the Dail and Seanad.

After Requiem Mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook, celebrated by the Very Rev. C.P. Crean P.P, the funeral set out for Maynooth. Draped in the Tricolour, the coffin was borne from the church to a gun carriage, and troops from Eastern Command and the Air Corps escorted the cortege to Elginton road.

As the funeral reached Phoenix Park a 21-gun salute was fired. At Maynooth, the funeral was met by an Army escort from the Curragh and the Band of Curragh Training Camp which preceded the remains to the cemetery about a mile outside the town. An honour guard was formed by old I.R.A. men as the coffin was borne into the cemetery.

The Guard of Honour was under the command of Commdt. James Dunne, Kill, 1st Batt., 7th Brigade. Members of the group were Messrs. Thomas Mangan, Timothy Tyrrel, John Maguire and Patrick Weafer, all of Maynooth, who fought alongside an tUas Ua Buachalla in 1916, Patrick Healy, Celbridge, John Barnewell, Maynooth and Commdt. T. McHugh, Prosperous, a former member of the North Kildare Batt., 1st Meath Brigade.

At the graveside a volley was fired by troops from the Curragh and the last prayers were recited by the Very Rev. W. O’Riordan, P.P Maynooth.

The chief mourners were Kevin and Seadhna Ua Buachalla (sons): Mrs Brid O’Sullivan, Mrs Sheila O’Neill and Mairin Ní Bhuachalla (daughters): Miss F. A. Buckley, Mrs I. M. McCarthy, Mr C. P. Buckley and Mrs H. Buckley (relatives).