Formation 1991 Chairman Hugo Ricciardi O'Neill | Headquarters Ireland | |
Type Gaelic nobility
Irish clans
Gaelic culture | ||
The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains (Irish: Buanchomhairle Thaoisigh Éireann) is an organisation which was established to bring together the Chiefs of the Name of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. As a republic, the Constitution of Ireland prohibits the conferring of "titles of nobility" by the state.
Contents
History
On 5 October 1991 sixteen of the nineteen "bloodline chiefs" were received at Áras an Uachtaráin by the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, along with the Chief Herald of Ireland and representation from the Irish Tourist Board. This was the first time in modern history that the bloodline chieftains of Ireland had gathered to form a council. The only other meeting of this kind to have taken place was before the Battle of Kinsale which took place in 1601 when a group of Irish chiefs met.
Maguire of Fermanagh, retired accountant Terence Maguire, was elected chairman of the Irish Chiefs Council for a three-year period while The O'Conor Don of Roscommon, retired businessman Denis O'Conor Don, was elected deputy-chairman.
In 1999, following a scandal, the Chief Herald of Ireland took advice from the Attorney General's Office that successions would no longer be given "courtesy recognition" or published in the Iris Oifigiúil. While some representatives had obtained courtesy recognition as Chiefs of the Name from the Chief Herald of Ireland, this practice was discontinued by 2003 - with the Attorney General noting that such recognitions were unconstitutional and without basis in law.
1999 was the last year an amendment and reprint of the constitution of the Standing Council was published.
Today
As of 2006, the Chairman of The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains was Dr. Hugo Ricciardi O'Neill, the ostensible head of the Clandeboye O'Neill dynasty, from a branch of that family which has been in Portugal since the 18th century.