Dioraí Ó Coirbhin, Rúnaí-Sparánaí / Secretary-Bursar
Item
Format
Jpeg
Title
Dioraí Ó Coirbhin, Rúnaí-Sparánaí / Secretary-Bursar
Identifier
VHS0001
Depiction
A man looking at the camera
Description
This is a photograph of Dioraí Ó Coirbhin, Rúnaí-Sparánaí / Secretary-Bursar (1967-90). His appointment was the first step in the professionalisation of the Administration, in response to the unprecedented growth of the College in the 1960s. Till then, the senior administrative offices of Registrar, Secretary and Bursar had been part-time and held by fulltime Professors, but with the imminent retirement of the two incumbent Professors in the mid-1960s (Professor James Mitchell, Registrar and Secretary, and Professor Patrick Larkin, Bursar), the opportunity was taken to make those roles fulltime and to recruit two professional administrators (not at the same time Professors or Lecturers) to undertake them. The office of Bursar was made fulltime by Statute LXIII (1965) and Dioraí Ó Coirbhin was appointed thereto in 1967. Under Statute LXVIII (1967), the office of Secretary was combined with that of Bursar, without any extra remuneration, and the holder was thenceforth titled Rúnaí-Sparánaí /Secretary-Bursar. The restructuring of the office of Registrar was more complicated, as the Charter of the College required that there be a Registrar. Under Statute LXXVIII (1969), which established the new office of Academic Secretary to undertake the functions previously handled by the Registrar, new responsibilities relating mainly to new academic staff, academic staffing and resources, and student welfare were accordingly assigned to the Registrar (who was required to be a Professor elected for a three-year term, subject to a maximum of two terms). Séamus Ó Cathail was then appointed Academic Secretary / Rúnaí Acadúil, the second of those two senior professional administrators.
Dioraí Ó Coirbhin, BSc (Econ), FCA, a native of Belfast, graduated from Queen's University, Belfast, where he later was a Lecturer; he also acted as Extern Examiner for the NUI. In the qualifying examination for Chartered Accountants, he got first place in Ireland and the Arthur H. Muir Memorial Prize. He later spent a period developing the accountancy practice of his father Aodh, who was a major figure in the Irish-language movement and the GAA in the North from the time of the War of Independence. Dioraí himself as an undergraduate was active in the activities of An Comhchaidreamh (an organisation established to promote Irish in the Universities) and in Galway continued his commitment to the language: Irish was the working language of his own Office and of the Accounts Office, and he inspired many administrative staff to avail of refresher courses in the Gaeltacht and to value the College's language tradition as an important of Europe's cultural diversity. His commitment, and that of Séamus Ó Cathail, to that vision of Galway's role in the provision of University education through Irish, would later come to be realised in the establishment of Áras na Gaeilge and Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge. Likewise he played a vital part in the establishment of the annual Conference of Irish University Administrators, bringing 28 senior administrators of all the Universities in the island of Ireland together in Galway in 1971 for the first formal Conference, and he cultivated European links through involving the College regularly in the OECD Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE). His responsibilities included Human Resources, Student Services, Buildings and Industrial Liaison, as well as the finance function, whose administration, investment and longterm planning systems he modernised and put on a sound footing for the development opportunities ahead. He died on December 4, 1990, aged 57.
Dioraí Ó Coirbhin, BSc (Econ), FCA, a native of Belfast, graduated from Queen's University, Belfast, where he later was a Lecturer; he also acted as Extern Examiner for the NUI. In the qualifying examination for Chartered Accountants, he got first place in Ireland and the Arthur H. Muir Memorial Prize. He later spent a period developing the accountancy practice of his father Aodh, who was a major figure in the Irish-language movement and the GAA in the North from the time of the War of Independence. Dioraí himself as an undergraduate was active in the activities of An Comhchaidreamh (an organisation established to promote Irish in the Universities) and in Galway continued his commitment to the language: Irish was the working language of his own Office and of the Accounts Office, and he inspired many administrative staff to avail of refresher courses in the Gaeltacht and to value the College's language tradition as an important of Europe's cultural diversity. His commitment, and that of Séamus Ó Cathail, to that vision of Galway's role in the provision of University education through Irish, would later come to be realised in the establishment of Áras na Gaeilge and Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge. Likewise he played a vital part in the establishment of the annual Conference of Irish University Administrators, bringing 28 senior administrators of all the Universities in the island of Ireland together in Galway in 1971 for the first formal Conference, and he cultivated European links through involving the College regularly in the OECD Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE). His responsibilities included Human Resources, Student Services, Buildings and Industrial Liaison, as well as the finance function, whose administration, investment and longterm planning systems he modernised and put on a sound footing for the development opportunities ahead. He died on December 4, 1990, aged 57.
People
Dioraí Ó Coirbhin
References
Obituaries: 'Dioraí Ó Coirbhin - Marbhna', Irish Times, 28/12/1990 and a translation thereof, 'Dioraí Ó Coirbhin - an appreciation', Galway City Tribune, 11/01/1991, both under initials C.ÓhE. (Colm Ó hEocha) but written by S. Mac Mathúna; and one (as Gaeilge) by Roibeard Mac Góráin (Gael Linn) in Anois, 09/12/1990
Contributor
Bibliographic Citation
S. Mac Mathúna, 'Dioraí Ó Coirbhin, Rúnaí-Sparánaí / Secretary-Bursar', Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 14537, Archival Record Id VHRS
Spatial Coverage
Temporal Coverage
Category
b&w
portrait
portrait
Language
English
Irish
Irish
Publisher
University of Galway Library
Rights
This image may be used for non-commercial purposes under CC BY-NC-SA see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Provenance
Image retrieved from the Secretary's Office archives by Séamus Mac Mathúna and scanned by him for the Visual History Retired Staff Collection in 2023