Eamonn Gallagher
12th July 1926
–
23rd May 2009
The death has occurred in Brussels of Eamonn Gallagher (82), formerly one of Ireland’s most senior EU officials and diplomats, and who played a key role in the early years of Ireland’s membership of the then-EEC.
He died of cancer at home after a short illness.
SNP leader Alex Salmond commented: “Eamonn was a proud son of Glasgow, who pursued a glittering career as an Irish diplomat, including serving as a European Commission director-general and EC ambassador to the United Nations. However, he never forgot these Glasgow roots, and was hugely helpful and influential in developing the case – along with the late Professor Neil MacCormick – for an independent Scottish role in Europe. Eamonn will be greatly missed in Ireland, in Scotland, and by his many friends far beyond.”
Former SNP MEP Winnie Ewing said Mr Gallagher would be remembered fondly by many in the SNP. “He was a witty and brilliant man – a great personal friend, and a great friend of Scotland. I will miss him, and my thoughts are with Nora and the family.”
In the 1970s Gallagher, as director general of Fisheries, the first Irishman to head one of the commision’s departments, was one of the architects of the controversial Common Fisheries Policy.
In the earlier years of the decade as head of the Department of Foreign Affairs newly created Anglo-Irish Division he travelled extensively to the North and was central to the development of the Government’s response to the Northern crisis.
Gallagher became head of the EU division and a deputy secretary of the department, moving to Brussels in 1976 after a successful first Irish presidency of the EEC when he had attracted the attention of the External Relations Commissioner, Sir Christopher Soames, as a tough but successful negotiator. After a brief period with Soames, he was asked by Commission President Jacques Delors to establish and run the commission’s fisheries directorate.
He later served as a special advisor to Delors and EU representative to the UN in New York, and in retirement would be brought back by the then Minister for Finance, Ruairi Quinn, to help the 1996 Irish Presidency broker a compromise in a dispute over the multi-billion euro Trans European Networks programme.
In 1992-93 he served as member of the independent ciizens’ inquiry into the political options for the North, the Opsahl Commission.
An active member of the Institute for European Affairs in Brussels he and another Irish former Commission official, Mr John Temple Lang, coauthored an important and influential pamphlet on the democratic rationale for the EU’s institutional balance. Both men recently argued and lobbied against the Lisbon Treaty, specifically against the loss of a permanent commission seat, but also what they saw as the increasing institutional weight of the Council of Ministers to the detriment of small member-states.
Born on July 13th, 1926 in Glasgow to Donegal parents, he had four brother and five sisters. The family returned to live near Letterkenny. A passionate golfer, he was a member of the Royal Golf Club de Belgique and Brussels Irish Wild Geese, he also loved paintings and poker, and was for many years a strong supporter of the Scottish National Party.
As an active member of the Brussels branch, this allowed Gallagher to develop the case - along with his friend, the late SNP MEP Professor Sir Neil MacCormick - for an independent Scottish role in Europe. Gallagher declared: “There could be no sustainable legal or political objection to separate Scottish membership of the European Community”.
He went on: “A democratic Scotland, fully capable of accepting and exercising its responsibilities in the European Union, answers completely to the constitutional and statutory requirements of membership, and the Community - with its customary practical ingenuity - could readily resolve the institutional questions that arise in, for example, those of Scotland’s voting weight in the Council, membership of Parliament, membership of the Commission and so on.“
He is survived by his partner of more than three decades Nora O’Brien, and three daughters from a marriage to Dorothy Kelley.
Eamonn Gallagher was a proud son of Glasgow. One of 10 children, his family subsequently moved back to their roots in Donegal, underlining the strong and enduring links between the “dear green place” and that most beautiful of Irish counties.
He pursued a glittering career as an Irish diplomat, including serving as a European Commission director- general and European Community ambassador to the United Nations. However, he never forgot his Glasgow origins, and was hugely helpful and influential in developing the case, in partnership with the late Professor Sir Neil MacCormick, for an independent Scottish role in Europe.
In many ways, his career path reflected the progress and development of Ireland as a modern European nation, which was a truly extraordinary transformation. He was deeply involved in developing the terms of Ireland’s EEC membership, and the highly successful first Irish presidency in 1975. In no small part thanks to Eamonn’s work, new respect was earned for an old nation.
Eamonn cultivated a reputation as a tough negotiator on behalf of Ireland, and was talent-spotted by EEC authorities and moved to Brussels in 1976, where he shone in a series of important roles on this wider stage.
In retirement, Eamonn was able to pursue his many interests (he was a keen golfer) as well as academic writing and, increasingly, involvement in Scottish politics. He became a highly active member of the Scottish National Party’s Brussels branch, and for many years I have counted him as a dear friend.
As a Scottish Irishman, or perhaps an Irish Scotsman, Eamonn was a strong advocate of Scottish independence. His views were based not just on an affinity with Scotland, but also his insight into the success of small nations protecting and promoting their interests and building alliances on the European stage. Eamonn was a man of the heart and the head, and brought both his passion and substantial intellect to bear in arguing Scotland’s cause.
He articulated the compelling case that Scotland would automatically become a member of the European Union as an independent nation, and argued that independent Scottish membership would be of benefit to both Scotland and Europe as a whole. Along with Professor MacCormick, he pointed out that “there could be no sustainable legal or political objection to Scottish membership of the European Community”. It was in large measure thanks to Eamonn’s expertise in arguing Scotland’s case on this important point that the nay-sayers were silenced.
Eamonn was an active member of the Irish Institute of European Affairs, and a champion of the rights of small nations in Europe. He worked tirelessly for the causes in which he believed, and left his beloved Ireland and Europe far better places for his toils. That is as much as this public-spirited man would have wanted to be remembered for. But he will long be remembered for far more than that.
I will remember him always as a witty and brilliant man - a great personal friend, and a great friend of Scotland.
from Winnie Ewing, on
28th May 2009