The inauguration of President Sean T. O Ceallaigh

As Ireland prepares for tomorrow’s inauguration of the 10th President of Ireland, todays blog looks back at eighty years ago when during the summer of 1945, with World War 2 ending, Sean T O’Ceallaigh was appointed as the second president. An editorial in the Irish Press speaks volumes of the time when the memory of Irish independence just over twenty years earlier was still fresh in the minds:

YESTERDAY, with appropriate ceremonial, Mr. Sean T. O Ceallaigh was inaugurated President of Ireland. To those whose memories carry them back to the early days of the modern national resurgence, the occasion must have been one for pride and rejoicing. Amongst the survivors of the historic Irish-Ireland movement, there can be none to whom the name of the new President is not intimately associated with the days of stress and struggle. In the period when the Gaelic League arose to inspire and revivify the. nation, in the coming of Sinn Fein, in the founding of the Volunteers, in the drama of Easter Week, in the War of Independence, in diplomatic services abroad, and in the role of statesman in all the long procession of stirring events which are the story of our times, President 0’Ceallaigh has played an important part.

Now, by the free vote of the people, he has been elected to the highest position of honour that the nation can give. He has become First Citizen of the State and guardian of the Constitution. Speaking after the inauguration ceremony, the new President said that he counted upon help in his task from the Government and from every section of the people, and there cannot be the slightest doubt that such help will be given him gladly and generously. The President of Ireland, by virtue of -his office, stands sentinel over the rights of the nation and the personal liberties which belong to every citizen.

So, to-day, Ireland salutes its new President. He has, with the pageantry suited to his high office, moved into Aras an Uachtarain, the stately building which over a long period was one of the symbols of domination and servitude. That it should now be occupied by a man of the people, one of the veteran workers in the nation's cause, affords the clearest proof that his life work has not been in vain…

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )