A CLARE MAN with a distinguished career in the medical field is to be honoured by Muintir an Chláir the Clare Association Dublin at its annual award presentation function.
By Tony Mulvey
Kilmaley born Professor Peter A. Daly has been named by the Association as its Clare Person of the Year for 2023 and will present him with his award at their annual function in the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon on September 2.
Also being honoured on the same occasion will be Ennis native, Kieran Hanrahan, the well known Irish traditional music player and RTÉ broadcaster. He has been named the association’s Hall of Fame person for 2023.
Professor Daly was born to Thomas Daly Kilmaley and Catherine (nee Mullins) from Monreel, Ennistymon in 1946. He received his early education at Kilmaley NS, the Convent of Mercy NS, Ennis and Furglan NS. From 1959 to 1964, he attended St. Flannan’s College, Ennis where he held an entrance and an intermediate certificate scholarship (5th place). In his final year there he was co-head prefect (sacristan).
Having been awarded a university scholarship by Clare County Council, he attended St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth for a year and then studied medicine at UCD from 1965 to 1971. He undertook basic medical training in Dublin at Mater Misericordiae, St. James’s, the Royal City of Dublin( Baggot Street) and Sir Patrick’s Dun’s hospitals, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians (RCPI) IN 1975.
Between 1976 and 1979, he was a Fogarty International Fellow at Baltimore Cancer Research Centre of the National Cancer Institute (US-NCI), completing a three-year fellowship in medical oncology and being among the first Irishmen to do this.
He was appointed a consultant physician with an interest in malignant diseases to Mercer’s and St James’s in 1979 and, with the closure of Mercer’s in 1983, he became Consultant Physician/Medical Oncologist at St. James’s. This was the first post in the Irish health service to have the medical oncologist designation conferred by Comhairle na nOispideál.
In the academic environment, he was successively lecturer, senior lecturer and Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). In these roles, he taught successive generations of medical students, nurses and other disciplines related to medicine. He became a Fellow of RCPI aged 36 in 1983 and was an active participant in the affairs of the college into his retirement, serving on its council from 2007-2013.
Between 2002 and 2008 he served as National Speciality Director for Medical Oncology within the Irish Committee for Higher Specialist Training (ICHMT) and mentored the majority of those holding consultant positions in the field to-day. He served for many years as national representative on the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) as well as being a member of its education committee. Part of that was devising and conducting examinations for ESMO membership and accreditation. He was a founder member of the Irish Society of Medical Oncology (ISMO) in 1997, becoming its first secretary/treasurer and second president.
At St. James’s he established a joint department with Clinical Haematology and this has evolved into one of the main cancer centres in Ireland which includes the National Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation service for adults. The department-later the HOPE directorate- played an important part in the development of cancer services through developing excellence in care, education, training and collaboration with other centres throughout the world. Professor Daly served on numerous national, European and international committees including the first and second National Cancer Forums, the steering group which established BreastCheck, the EU Cancer Experts Committee of the Europe Against Cancer programme and the US-NCI/Ireland/Northern Ireland initiative on cancer established on the back of the Good Friday Agreement.
In the face of all this the Clare born professor continued with a heavy clinical workload being a lone consultant in his discipline at St. James’s for almost twenty years. He managed to maintain an interest and activity in clinical research and was author/co-author of about 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
One of his greatest achievements was to lead a small team of Irish researchers which contributed to the discovery of the BRCA2 cancer- predisposition gene. The 25th anniversary of that achievement was celebrated at St.James’ in November 2019 by the unveiling of a sculpture titled ‘Structural Symmetries’. The event was attended by Professor/Sir Michael Rudolf Stratton, Director of the Sanger Institute, who was leader of the international consortium in 1994 and who has always warmly commended the Irish contribution. The relevant paper was published in ‘Science’ and the sculpture sits in the main concourse at St. James’s.
In retirement since 2008, Professor Daly was active for a few years at RCPI and ICHMT, chairing assessment and interview panels as well as participating in hospital assessments throughout the country to determine suitability for training. He also served on the council of the Irish Hospitals Consultant Association between 2009 and 2015, representing retired colleagues. In the later years he has restricted himself to serving on the boards of several charities, notably the Mercer’s Hospital Foundation (MHF) from 2002 to the present time, St. Francis Hospice Dublin (SFHD) 2008 to the present time and the Bobby Bastow Genetics Foundation (2014-2021). MHF is the legal successor to Mercer’s Hospital and, with the return on investment on money from the sale, it has supported numerous healthcare initiatives to the tune of over €5 million since 1987, including the Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing at St. James’s. The new hospice at Blanchardstown has been built and opened since Professor Daly joined SFHD and presently he serves as chair of the Quality and Safety Committee and as a member of the Fundraising Advisory Group during the development and early years of Blanchardstown and, to the credit of all and especially the local population, the €22.5 million building cost has been paid and, as they look forward to the re-development of Raheny, SFHD is debt free.
With a life lifelong interest in history, Professor Daly has written some works in retirement. Most recently he has been working on a summary of the heritage of Mary Mercer as the 300th anniversary of the building of her first house at the location of the hospital will occur in 2034. That has been submitted and he is now working on a biography of his great granduncle, Professor Brian O’ Looney of Monreel, the 200th anniversary of whose birth will occur in 2028.
Hall of fame entrant, Kieran Hanrahan is one of the most popular personalities on the Irish traditional music scene. A son of Jackie and Mary Hanrahan, St. Michael’s Villas, Ennis, he is one of the most respected tenor banjo players in the county, having taken up playing the instrument when he was fourteen years of age. With his talent he was All Ireland champion within four years.
In the late 1970s, he formed the acclaimed but short-lived Inchiquin Group with Noel Hill, the concertina player from Lissycasey, fiddler Tony Linnane and guitarist Tony Callanan. After that he formed the hugely successful Stocktons Wing and with their unique brand of traditional music, they became an overnight success and toured the world in the 80’s and 90’s. He is also credited with forming another highly acclaimed group, the Templehouse Ceili Band in 1998. They were sought all over and played in such places as Moscow, Milwalkee and Paris during the ten years he played with them.
The Ennis man has also recorded many albums and CDs with Inchiquin, Templehouse and Stocktons Wing. He has also played on three film soundtracks with the Chieftains and recorded with them on the Grammy Award winning CD The Long Black Veil which also featured Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones, Sinead O Connor, and Tom Jones. He co-arranged and performed the traditional music in the Jim Sheridan movie, The Field. In addition he arranged the traditional music and played in the Aidan Quinn movie This is My Father. Other recordings were with Tommy Hayes and Ronnie Drew. He also has a solo recording to his credit The Irish Tenor Banjo. He has been invited to attend festivals all over Ireland, France and the US and has taught in the University of Limerick and Boston College.
A music broadcaster with RTÉ since 1991, he has presented shows such as The Fleadh Club, Both Sides Now and of course Céilí House, the flagship traditional music programme for the national broadcaster. He is also involved in research in RTÉ Radio Archives.
The famous Kilfenora Ceili Band has been booked to entertain guests at the Clare Association function in the Falls Hotel Ennistymon on September 2.It promises to be another great occasion and information regarding tickets can be had from association officers Tom Conway (0864640085) and Gerry O’ Reilly (0868498192).
