Early Life
O'Malley was born in Limerick in 1939. His family had long been involved in politics: His grandfather was killed during the War of Independence by the Black and Tans, two of his uncles and his father held the office of Mayor of Limerick, and his uncle Donogh O'Malley was a Minister for Education.
O'Malley was educated at the Jesuit Crescent College and at University College Dublin, from which he graduated with a degree in law in 1962. In 1968, after Donogh O'Malley died suddenly, Desmond O'Malley was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) in the subsequent by-election for the Limerick East constituency. At the time it was believed that this by-election victory was partly due to Neil Blaney and his "Donegal Mafia". Neil Blaney would subsequently regret aiding O'Malley in his election.
Following the 1969 general election O'Malley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, and also Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Jim Gibbons. O'Malley had a central role in the prosecutions that arose from the Arms Crisis of 1970. The case against the accused government ministers Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney was dismissed in the Supreme Court, and both ministers were acquitted.
In 1970 O'Malley succeeded Micheál Ó Móráin as Minister for Justice. His plans to introduce internment without trial for Provisional IRA suspects in the Republic were not implemented, but he was the subject of an assassination threat, was forced to carry a loaded pistol and was frequently moved from house to house.
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