ESRI pays tribute to Prof Dermot McAleese

It was with great sadness that the staff and Council of the ESRI learned of the death of Prof Dermot McAleese on 26th June 2025.

Dermot McAleese joined the Economic Research Institute (as it was then known) in 1962 as a Research Assistant. He was awarded a Research Fellowship (1966-1969) to study at Johns Hopkins University. He returned to the ESRI as a Research Officer 1969 until 1972, after which he moved to the Department of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. He held the Whately Chair of Political Economy at TCD from 1979 until his retirement in 2004. Dermot’s research interests included European integration, trade and foreign investment, Irish economic policy and business and economics.

Dermot was a member of the ESRI Council from 1983-1994 and served as Chairman from 1988-1991. During his tenure as Chairman, the groundwork for substantial changes in the growth of the Irish economy were made. Dermot firmly believed in the importance of evidence-based decision-making in public policy, and this was the cornerstone of his own research and a principle he championed in his guidance to the Institute.

 Martina Lawless, Director of the ESRI and former student of Prof McAleese’s, said: “The death of Professor McAleese is a great loss to the Irish economic and policymaking community. He made enormous contributions to the development of Ireland's outward-looking economy and to teaching economics. He will be remembered by all who knew him as thoughtful and encouraging in both his research and teaching, and also as a thorough gentleman.”