Bob McDonagh, who has died aged 91, was a former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and an ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy and the United Nations, from which latter posting he retired in 1989.
During his 40-year career in the department, he was at various times head of the Anglo-Irish section, the overseas aid programme and of economic and cultural affairs.
He had also the distinction of having two of his sons, Philip and Bobby, follow him into the diplomatic service and becoming ambassadors.
He was born in 1924 in Tralee, Co Kerry. His father had been a county inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary. Bob was educated in Presentation College, Glasthule, Co Dublin. He entered the Civil Service as a junior officer in the Revenue Commissioners and later served in the departments of Industry and Commerce and Supplies before joining the then Department of External Affairs as a third secretary in June 1949.
Seán MacBride was the first of 10 ministers under whom he would serve in his long career.
After stints as a third secretary -- then the lowest rung on the diplomatic career ladder – in Madrid, Washington, Stockholm and Iveagh House, he was promoted to chargé d'affaires at the embassy in Copenhagen in 1962. By then he had married a fellow diplomat, Roisin O'Doherty, who was an Irish language author and whose father, Seamus, had been a convenor of the Irish Republican Brotherhood after the 1916 executions and a hunger striker in 1919.
Entry to EEC
As the department expanded in the 1970s when Ireland joined the then EEC, Bob McDonagh climbed the promotional ladder.
After three years as ambassador in Bonn, he was recalled to headquarters, where he became deputy secretary. Using his diplomatic skills, he opposed his then minister, Dr Garret FitzGerald, over the management of the enlarged overseas aid budget. Dr FitzGerald wanted to farm out the management of the aid to a separate agency but Bob McDonagh argued against it leaving the department and won.
As head of the newly established Anglo-Irish section, he was closely involved in the work leading up to the signing of the Sunningdale powersharing agreement in Northern Ireland.
In February 1977, He was appointed secretary of the department, a post now called secretary general. In December 1978 he was appointed ambassador to Italy and in August 1983 permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, where he served until retirement in March 1989.
During this time he suffered the blow of losing his beloved wife, Roisin, who died in 1988. They had been noted for their hospitality and Bob for his exceptionally fair treatment of junior colleagues.
Family holidays
In his long retirement he was able to keep up contact with friends and former colleagues. He was devoted to his family and grandchildren and spent many holidays with them in Carraroe. He would continue to sing his party piece,
The Ballad of Joe Hill
, which was also sung at his funeral. He continued to build up his extensive collection of diplomatic memoirs in several languages. He was also noted for his humour, as his son Philip recalled during the funeral Mass.
While the family had been in Copenhagen in the 1960s, their home in Terenure had been let to local clergy and for some years after their return they would get phone calls intended for the parish. One day Philip overheard his father saying “Yes, you can have eggs for breakfast.”
He had been speaking to a parishioner who was inquiring if eggs for breakfast were allowed during Lent. “Are you sure you should have given such a definite answer?” Philip challenged him. “Of course,” was the reply. “You can’t ask a stranger on the phone what religion they are.”
Former minister for foreign affairs Micheál Martin, at the launch of a book about Conor Cruise O'Brien, told the story that when the latter sent a copy of his book The Siege, about Israel, to Bob McDonagh to thank him and Roisin for their hospitality in New York, Bob wrote back saying that so far as he could see, he was the closest thing to a Palestinian Conor had met in the course of his researches.
Moscow Circus
Once when he was on a trade mission to Moscow and learned that the person next to him at table was the director of the Moscow Circus, he plied him with questions. Where did the circus buy its animals? How long did it take to train an elephant? Did clowns ever speak? He was later to learn that his companion at the official dinner had nothing to do with the circus.
Bob McDonagh is survived by his sons, Philip, Bobby, Feichín and daughter, Sunniva, by 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.