Breandán Mac Cnáimhsí: WHEN THE first Dáil met in the Mansion House on January 21st, 1919, all the day's business was carried out through the medium of Irish.
Next day, the staff charged with keeping the official record in Irish and in English was established on a permanent basis.
The Irish-language translation service began with the appointment of Mícheál Ó Loingsigh to the position of official translator, which was subsequently changed to chief translator.
Breandán Mac Cnáimhsí (Bonar), who held the position from 1984 to 1986, was born in May 1921, in Gortahork (Gort an Choirce) in the Donegal Gaeltacht.
There were 13 children in the family, four of whom died in childhood.
There being no local secondary school, Breandán and his twin brother Kevin, who died in 1986, boarded at Coláiste Caomhín in Glasnevin, Dublin.
Having qualified as a primary schoolteacher, Breandán took up his first teaching post at Culdaff in Inishowen, Donegal, where he met his future wife Gertie.
He subsequently taught at St Finbar’s National School in Cabra, Dublin, where his pupils included future singing star Dickie Rock.
In the 1950s he joined Radió Éireann as a newsreader in Irish, and he worked as a newsreader in the early days of Telefís Éireann in the 1960s.
While there he acquired the nickname of “Oíche Mhaith (Good Night)”.
After RTÉ he joined the Oireachtas translation staff. In 1972, he was a member of the team from Rannóg an Aistriúcháin (Translation Department) that went to Brussels to translate into Irish the treaties establishing the European Communities.
The Irish version was based on the French and English material and amounted to 1,500 pages of complex technical text.
He also produced the Irish-language version of the historic Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
He was extremely proud of the contribution made by Rannóg an Aistriúcháin to the development of the official and legal register of the Irish language, particularly An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (The Official Grammatical Standard for the Irish language).
He was one of the contributors to the Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarlacompiled by Niall Ó Dónaill and Tomás de Bhaldraithe, which is still in use today.
His scholarly and historical work included research on the Dundalk-born writer and poet Nicholas O’Kearney/Nioclás Ó Cearnaigh (c1802-c1865).
He also researched the effects of the Great Famine on Arranmore Island and other parts of Co Donegal.
A keen sports fan, he always wanted to attend the Old Firm derby in Glasgow between Celtic and Rangers and was lucky enough to get there a couple of times in his retirement.
One of his favourite sporting moments was when Donegal won the All-Ireland final of 1992 against the “Dubs”.
He was also thrilled, however, when Dublin won the Sam Maguire this year.
A keen gardener, he was also involved in voluntary work with the Society of St Vincent de Paul, particularly in the James’s Street area of Dublin.
He died after a long illness and is survived by his wife Gertie, daughters Emer, Ann and Aoife, and sons Fionan and Breandán.
Breandán Mac Cnáimhsí: born, May 9th, 1921; died October 2nd, 2011