home » media centre » press releases

Labour Leader pays tribute to Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien

Issued : Thursday 18 December, 2008

I have heard with great sadness of the death of Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien

With the death of Conor Cruise O'Brien, Ireland has lost an intellectual giant and one of the most remarkable Irish public figures of the 20th century who marked up a huge range of achievements during his long and varied life. He excelled as a diplomat, an author, an historian, an educationalist, a journalist and a politician.

Conor was a man on immense political courage. He was never afraid to take up unpopular positions with the result that few ever agreed with him all the time. He was a controversial figure within the Labour Party but even those who disagreed with him always respected his intellect and his integrity.

He showed particular courage in confronting traditional attitudes towards Northern Ireland during the 1960s and 1970s and was, in many respects, ahead of his time in this area. Although threatened on many occasions during his career as a Labour Party Minister in the Coalition government of the 1970s, he never shirked from challenging and taking on the nationalist paramilitaries.

Up to the time of his death Conor was still a member of the Labour Party.

On behalf of the Labour Party, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy to his wife Maire Mac An tSaoi and to his family