Vivion de Valera Vivion de Valera Vivion Laurence de Valera (13 December 1910 – 16 February 1982) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, businessman and lawyer who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1945 to 1981. He was the eldest child of Éamon de Valera and Sinéad de Valera. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Juan Vivion de Valera. Born in Dublin in 1910, Vivion de Valera was educated at Blackrock College, University College Dublin (MSc, PhD) and King's Inns. While at UCD, he was auditor of the Literary and Historical Society. He was called to the Bar in 1937. After
Éamon de Valera 16 September 1953, de Valera met British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for the first and only time, at 10 Downing Street. (The two men had seen each other at a party in 1949, but without speaking.) He surprised the UK Prime Minister by claiming that if he had been in office in 1948 Ireland would not have left the Commonwealth. It was during this period that de Valera's eyesight began to deteriorate and he was forced to spend several months in the Netherlands, where he had six operations. In 1955, while in opposition, de Valera spoke against the formation of