Check against delivery is a time-honoured caveat that journalists are asked to observe when given copies of a political speech in advance.
It’s a convention that allows for a speech to change: the politician might talk off the cuff, tell an off-colour anecdote, or two, or omit certain passages.
Fifty years ago, on the morning of October 18th, 1976, an embargoed speech was sent by the Government Information Office to all the national newsrooms. The minister for defence Paddy Donegan would be opening a new canteen at Columb Barracks in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
He was intending to say how delighted he was to open a new cookhouse and dining hall with its convection oven and servery units extending to 5,000sq ft.
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The proposed speech also included a segue in which he stated that the rights of people to be governed by their elected representatives was being challenged across Europe.
A cursory reading of the speech would have understood that this arose out of a decision by Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, then president, to refer the government’s Emergency Powers Act to the Supreme Court.
The Act arose out of a summer of anarchy with the assassination of the British ambassador, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, on July 21st, 1976, and a successful breakout by five IRA prisoners from the cells under Green Street Courthouse.
Faced with this, the Dáil passed the Emergency Powers Act, which had been in abeyance since the end of the second World War. Detention without charge would be extended from two days to seven. Gardaí could detain a suspect on the basis that the suspect knew about subversive activities even if he or she was not directly involved in that activity. Gardaí would be given powers to search premises without a warrant.
On September 24th, Ó Dálaigh referred this proposed legislation to the Supreme Court. The Bill was later judged to be constitutional and Ó Dálaigh said he would sign it into law on the following day, October 16th.
On that day Garda Michael Clerkin and four colleagues responded to a report of suspicious activity at a derelict house at Garryhinch, Portarlington, Co Laois. They had heard earlier a bomb was being prepared at the house in advance of an assassination attempt on Fine Gael TD Oliver J Flanagan, a ferocious critic of the Provisional IRA.
The officers began a search, during which a booby-trap bomb exploded, killing Michael Clerkin and seriously wounding his colleagues. Det Garda Tom Peters lost his sight and hearing as a result of the blast. This episode of murder and maiming generated revulsion in the Republic, being seen as a direct attack on the police force nationally.
Feelings were running high in government when Donegan travelled to Mullingar to give his speech opening the new canteen, yet the blandness of the proposed speech saw national news reporters staying away from the launch.
Only one reporter attended the event: Don Lavery, then a 23-year-old reporter with the Westmeath Examiner.
Lavery sat across from Donegan at lunch. According to Lavery, when lunch was over Donegan flung the copy of the script he had in front of him down on the table and said to him: “I’ll give you some news for the press.”
Donegan then launched into a tirade against Ó Dálaigh’s decision to refer the Emergency Powers Act to the Supreme Court.
The off-the-cuff speech would give rise to a phrase that entered the lexicon of Irish political life – “thundering disgrace”. Donegan pointed out that previous laws pertaining to the security of the State were not referred to the Supreme Court, so why this one?
Donegan’s words were premeditated. Nevertheless, Lavery was approached to kill the story afterwards, but he refused to do so.
In those days local newspaper reporters were often “stringers” for the national press and would feed copy to the newsdesk that they thought of national interest.
The designated stringer being away, Lavery filed copy to all the major news outlets including The Irish Times.
Donegan attempted to apologise to the president, but his attempts were rebuffed.
He then offered his resignation to the taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, but pointedly the taoiseach refused it and praised his minister’s contribution to the defence of the State in the face of a Fianna Fáil Dáil motion that he resign.
Cosgrave, who had no love for Ó Dálaigh, chose to take no action against the minister.
Four days after Donegan’s “thundering disgrace” remarks, Ó Dálaigh resigned and published the rather grovelling letter that Donegan had sent him by way of an apology.
In his public comments, Ó Dálaigh stated that resignation was the “only way now open to me to assert my personal integrity and independence as president of Ireland and to endeavour to protect the dignity and independence of the presidency as an institution”.
Donegan remained as minister for defence until a cabinet reshuffle in December 1976; Ó Dálaigh was replaced by Patrick Hillery.
