Taoiseach leads tributes to Conor Cruise O'Brien

Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien, who has died at the age of 91, after a distinguished career in public life as a diplomat, politician, writer, newspaper editor, critic and scholar.

THE DEATH has taken place of the former cabinet minister, writer, scholar, diplomat and journalist, Conor Cruise O'Brien. Born in Dublin in 1917, Dr Cruise O'Brien was one of the leading intellectual lights of the Labour Party during the 1960s.

Following a career as a civil servant in the Department of Finance and the Department of External Affairs, he worked at the United Nations and attracted the attention of leading figures there before he was given a key role in the organisation's difficult operation in the Congo in 1960 and 1961 by the then UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjold.

He developed a successful academic career before returning to Ireland, where he became a leading figure in the Labour Party in the late 1960s alongside counterparts such as David Thornley and Justin Keating. He was minister for posts and telegraph in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition in the 1970s.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said Dr Cruise O'Brien had been "a leading figure in Irish life in many spheres since the 1960s". He ". . . was blessed with a strong intellect and he was a man of strong convictions", he said, adding that while Dr Cruise O'Brien's "political views were not always in accordance with those of my own party over the years, I never doubted his sincerity or his commitment to a better and more peaceful Ireland".

During his time in the Seanad and the Dáil, Dr Cruise O'Brien strongly opposed the sacking of the RTÉ Authority for which he was roundly praised by the media, though he attracted the ire of many of them subsequently when he introduced Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act.

In 1982, he coined the phrase, GUBU, short for "grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented", the words used by then taoiseach Charles Haughey to describe the events surrounding the arrest of double murderer Malcolm Macarthur in the home of the then attorney general, Patrick Connolly. He was a tireless critic of Mr Haughey, not only about Northern Ireland, and questioned his integrity years before any evidence emerged that Mr Haughey had taken large sums from wealthy businessmen.

Dr Cruise O'Brien was strongly opposed to militant republicanism. He lost his Dáil seat in the 1977 general election.

He is survived by his wife Máire Mac An tSaoi, by their adopted son Patrick, and by his son from his first marriage, Donal. His daughter by his first marriage, Kate, predeceased him. He is also survived by his adopted daughter Margaret and his daughter Fedelma from his first marriage.