Though traditionally Roman Catholics, and of Gaelic origin, they managed to hold onto their lands by embracing the Protestant faith and renouncing their loyalty to the Stuart dynasty.
[7] He was the first MP for Galway Borough in the new House of Commons of the United Kingdom but vacated his seat on 21 February 1801[1] on appointment as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland); John Brabazon Ponsonby was elected to succeed him on 10 March.
[11] It was said of Daly that, while he had been a good student, and was reasonably well-read, he had never held even a dozen briefs in his whole career, and that barristers mocked his ignorance of the law in open court.
[12] He did at least come from a family with a tradition of judicial service: his great-grandfather, the first Denis Daly, had been a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) during the reign of James II.
In 1803 he married his cousin Louisa, daughter of Richard Gore of Sandymount, County Wicklow and Martha Fiott, but had no children.