Dooge, James

James Clement Dooge (30 July 1922 – 20 August 2010) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, engineer, climatologist, hydrologist and academic who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1982, Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 1982 to 1987 and Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1973 to 1977. He served as a Senator from 1961 to 1977 and 1981 to 1987. Dooge had a profound effect on the debate over climate change, in the world of hydrology and in politics in the formation of the European Union. His career spanned academia, politics and international affairs with his roles including a period as Minister for Foreign Affairs, a member of the Presidential Commission during two presidential vacancies, chair of the report that led to the Single European Act (SEA) and the Maastricht Treaty, Professor of Engineering in University College Cork and University College Dublin, President of the International Council for Science (ICSU), President of the Royal Irish Academy and Chair of the Irish Film Board. Dooge was a member of the Fellowship of Engineering, and worked as an expert consultant to a wide range of specialised United Nations agencies including UNESCO, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He also acted in an expert consultancy role to DGXII (Research) at the European Commission. He was as only the second senator since 1937 to be appointed to the cabinet. In the world of academia he is known for his numerous publications in the field of hydrology, having developed unit hydrograph theory in 1959, and is generally regarded as a pioneer in the field. His work in Europe through the Dooge Committee led to the SEA and the Maastricht Treaty. Upon his death in 2010, UNESCO-IHE described him as a "towering figure and pioneer in hydrology", while the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, Maurice Manning, described him as "that rare phenomenon in Irish life, a public intellectual whose life was devoted, without posture, to the public service". John Sweeney, one of the scientists as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, described him as "perhaps one of the most important, prolific and distinguished scientists of the past generation".