1 DOUGLAS HYDE June 1938 to June 1945
Ireland’s first president Douglas Hyde was raised at Portahard in northwest Roscommon, where his father was Church of Ireland rector. It was an Irish-speaking area then. Educated at Trinity College, in 1893 he co-founded and was first president of the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge). Professor of Irish at UCD from 1909 to 1932, by all-party agreement he was inaugurated as president in 1938 at the age of 78.
2 SEÁN T O’KELLY
June 1945 to June 1959
A Dubliner and educated by the Christian Brothers, Seán T O’Kelly took part in the 1916 Rising and was elected to the First Dáil in 1918.
A founding member of Fianna Fáil in 1926 and a government minister from 1932 to 1939, he was tánaiste from 1938 and minister for finance from 1939 to 1945. In the presidential election of 1945 he defeated Fine Gaels Seán Mac Eoin and Independent Patrick McCartan. He was 63. In 1952 he was elected unopposed for a second term.
3 ÉAMON de VALERA
June 1959 to June 1983
Born in New York and raised at Bruree in Limerick he attended Blackrock College in Dublin and the Royal University of Ireland. He led forces at Boland’s Mill in 1916 and was sentenced to death.
This was commuted to penal servitude for life. Elected to the First Dáil in 1918 he became first minister. In August 1921 he became president of the Republic. He opposed the 1922 Treaty and was on the losing side in the Civil War.
In 1926 he founded Fianna Fáil and in 1932 was elected taoiseach, which he was until 1945. He also held the office from 1951 to 1954 and from 1957 to 1959. In the presidential election of 1959 he defeated Fine Gaels Seán Mac Eoin. He was 75. In 1966 he narrowly beat Fine Gaels Tom OHiggins, to win a second term.
4 ERSKINE CHILDERS
June 1973 to Nov 1974
Born in London and son of Erskine Childers who was executed by the new State in 1922, he was a Cambridge graduate and member of the Church of Ireland.
He served in Fianna Fáil governments from 1944 becoming tánaiste and minister for health in 1969. In 1973, and aged 67, he was elected president, defeating Fine Gaels Tom OHiggins. He died suddenly in November 1974 at an event in Dublin’s Royal College of Physicians. Among those at his funeral was Lord Louis Mountbatten.
5 CEARBHALL Ó DÁLAIGH
Dec 1974 to Oct 1976
At 63 he became an agreed president following the death of Erskine Childers. From Bray, Co Wicklow and a graduate of UCD he was a Fianna Fáil supporter and became Irelands youngest attorney general in 1946.
In 1953 he was appointed to the Supreme Court becoming chief justice in 1961.
In 1973 he was appointed a judge of the European Court of Justice. As president he had difficult relations with the then coalition government.
In 1976 he referred its Emergency Powers Bill to the Supreme Court, which approved it. Then minister for defence Paddy Donegan described him as “a thundering disgrace.
Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave refused to accept Donegans offer of resignation when this became public. In October 1976, Ó Dálaigh resigned.
6 PATRICK HILLERY
Dec 1976 to Dec 1990
Born at Spanish Point in Clare Patrick Hillery was a medical doctor. He was elected a Fianna Fáil TD for Clare in 1951.
Between 1959 and 1973 he served as ministers for education, industry and commerce, labour, and foreign affairs. In 1973 he became Irelands first European Commissioner, on appointment to the social affairs portfolio and as a vice president of the European Commission.
Following the resignation of Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, a reluctant Dr Hillery was persuaded to stand for the presidency. He was elected unopposed in December 1976. He was 53. In 1983 he was elected unopposed for a second term.
7 MARY ROBINSON
Dec 1990 to Sept 1997
A barrister born in Ballina, Co Mayo, she was educated at Trinity College Dublin, where she was Reid professor of criminal law at the age of 25.
Elected on the TCD panel to the Seanad in 1969, she championed many liberal causes. She held the seat until 1989. She was legal advisor to the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform with future Trinity senator David Norris. She joined the Labour Party in the mid-1970s but failed to be elected to the Dáil.
She resigned from the party over the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement, which she opposed. In 1990 Labour proposed her for the presidency. She defeated Fianna Fáils Brian Lenihan and Fine Gaels Austin Currie, becoming Irelands president at 46.
8 MARY McALEESE
Nov 1997 to Nov 2011
Ireland’s eighth president, the first from Northern Ireland, is from Ardoyne in north Belfast.
A law graduate of Queens University Belfast, she taught at Trinity College Dublin as Reid professor of criminal law from 1975.
In 1979 she joined RTÉ as a journalist and presenter before returning to Trinity in 1981, while continuing to work part-time at RTÉ. In 1994 she became pro-vice chancellor at the university. She was a surprise choice by Fianna Fáil as their candidate for the presidential election of 1997. She beat Mary Banotti of Fine Gael, Independents Dana, Adi Roche (with the backing of Labour) and Derek Nally.
She was 46 and Ireland’s youngest president. In 2004 she was elected, unopposed, for a second term.