A member of the Ó Dálaigh family of professional poets, Cormac's flourit is uncertain, and can only be assigned to the High and Late Medieval Era in Ireland.
The Ó Dálaigh who settled in Munster seem to have been given an alternative descent from the Eóganacht kings of Cashel, in particular from Aenghus the king of Cashel who was baptised by St. Patrick.
Within Carbery, aside from the MacCarthy Reaghs, the most prominent Gaelic families were the princely sept of the O'Donovans, the O'Mahonys, O'Driscolls, O'Dalys, and O'Crowleys.
Whereas up to 1973, those ceremonies were exclusively denominational, the ceremonies for the inaugurations of President Childers in 1973, President Ó Dálaigh in 1974 and President Hillery in 1976, were multidenominational, with representatives of the Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist and the Jewish faith taking part in the ceremony.
It is commonly stated that Ó Dálaigh and Cusack picketed the Dublin launch of Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People, for what they felt was the film's stereotyping of Irish people.