Daly was born at Dunsandle Castle, Loughrea, the newly built residence of his father, Denis Daly. His ancestor, Dermot Ó Daly (fl. 1574–1614) was a Roman Catholic of Gaelic descent but his grandfather and father had converted to the Protestant faith to ensure legal title on their lands. By 1800, the family were among the largest landowners in Ireland and dictated the mayoralty of Galway for some sixty years. His mother was Lady Henrietta Maxwell, only daughter of Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham and Henrietta Cantillon, widow of the 3rd Earl of Strafford.
Daly graduated with a B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1803,[2] was ordained deacon and then priest of the Church of Ireland, and became Rector of Powerscourt in 1814. He was leader of the Evangelical section of the church, the subject at the centre of most of his publications, which numbered over twenty-two between 1815 and his death.
A sermon preached on ... 25 May 1815, in the Catholic Church of St. Patrick ... at the annual visitation, held by ... the Archbishop of Cashel, Dublin, 1815.
Letters on the Subject of the Scotch Episcopal Church ... to the Right Rev. Bishop Low, Aberdeen, 1846.
Extract on the subject of liturgical revision from the charge delivered by the ... Bishop of Cashel, Waterford, 1863.