He was appointed Papal Nuncio to Ireland on 19 April 1969, shortly after the outbreak of
the Troubles. This was a challenging time for the Church in Ireland then led by
Cardinal William Conway as it adjusted to both the internal changes generated by the Second Vatican Council and the wider social changes. Alibrandi was ill-suited to coping with these changes and in particular the violence in Northern Ireland. It is widely assumed that he saw to it that the more overtly nationalist
Tomas Ó Fiaich was appointed to Armagh in 1977 after the death of Cardinal Conway. The journalist and author Ed Moloney in his book on the IRA asserts that Alibrandi's "sympathy for the IRA was a constant source of friction with the government in London." Alibrani played a major role in the 1971 decision by the Vatican to accept the resignation of
John Charles McQuaid as archbishop of Dublin (to the shock of McQuaid, who expected that he would be allowed to remain for some time after the normal retirement age of 75). The respected academic and church historian Dermot Keogh assessing this period argues that "there was a general view that the best candidates had not been appointed...that a number were not up to the job, that most of the appointees shared a defensive attitude to matters of church and state. The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholicism Since 1950 in the United States, Ireland, and Quebec He had “a very testy relationship with three Taoisigh –
Jack Lynch,
Liam Cosgrave and
Garret FitzGerald”. It was reported in September 2012 during the second Dr Garret FitzGerald Memorial Lecture at
University College Cork by Seán Donlon, former secretary general at the Department of Foreign Affairs, that "It came to our [Department of Foreign Affairs] attention that a substantial amount in three bank accounts in Dublin [held by the archbishop] were way in excess of what was needed to run the nunciature. The source [of the money] appeared to be
South America." Donlon went on to say "Because of its size, we thought it appropriate to ask if the funds belonged to the Holy See". When contacted for an answer, Dr Alibrandi "quickly answered ‘no’ and that they belonged to ‘family’. When it was pointed out to him that the money was then liable under Irish taxation law to DIRT, he said he would retire shortly and the accounts would be closed." ==References==