Maurice Edward Dockrell (6 October 1908 – 9 December 1986) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who was elected to Dáil Éireann at ten successive general elections, serving as a Teachta Dála (TD) for thirty-four years.[1] He has been described as "a Protestant with a Unionist pedigree".[2]
The second son of Henry Morgan Dockrell, he was born on 6 October 1908 at 1 Herbert Park, Dublin. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin; and Trinity College Dublin, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1930. In the same year became a director of Thomas Dockrell, Sons & Co. On his father's death in 1955 he assumed the position of chairman and managing director.[3]
From 1960 to 1961, he was the Lord Mayor of Dublin.[5] During his term of office he raised the hackles of some Protestants when, in a gesture of ecumenism, he kissed the ring of the papal legate to the Patrician celebrations in June 1961. Always keen to build bridges between Ireland and Britain, he paid an official visit to London in June 1961, when he laid a wreath at The Cenotaph, a gesture later described in his Times obituary as 'an act of piety that involved some political risk'.[3]
His son Henry Morgan Dockrell was elected to Dublin City Council in 1967. His grandson Maurice Dockrell was co-opted onto Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council in 2020,[6] making him the fifth generation of the family to serve either at national or local level.
During a 1975 debate on reform of the country's conservative laws against contraceptives, he is alleged to have said "I'm for it, but I'm past it".[3]
^O'Connell served as Ceann Comhairle in the 22nd and 23rd Dáil from 1981 to 1983 and was returned automatically at the February 1982 and November 1982 general elections. He joined Fianna Fáil in January 1985.
