Raphael "Ray" Patrick Burke, politician, was born 30 September 1943 in Dublin. He served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála from 1973 to 1997. He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Justice, Minister for Communications, Minister for Industry and Commerce, Minister for Energy, Minister for the Environment, and Minister of State at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy.
Hugh Conaghan was an Irish politician born 6 May 1926 in Donegal. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal constituency in 1977.
Veronica Dunne was an Irish operatic soprano and voice teacher, born 2 August 1927 in Dublin.
Éamon (‘Dev’) De Valera was born 14 October 1882 in Manhattan, New York, the only child of Juan Vivion de Valera and Catherine (‘Kate’) Coll; he was christened Edward. His mother was a native of Bruree, Co. Limerick while his father had been born (1853) in Spain's Basque country. De Valera came to Ireland as a young child in April 1885 where he lived with his maternal family in Knockmore, Bruree. He joined the Irish Volunteers at their inaugural meeting in Dublin's Rotunda Rink (25 November 1913). In March 1915 he was appointed commandant of the 3rd Battalion, comprising the companies in the south-east of the city, after he had satisfied Patrick Pearse of his willingness to participate in a rising; he then became adjutant to Thomas MacDonagh, the brigade commander. During the 1916 Easter Rising de Valera's battalion occupied Boland's Mill, commanding the south-east approaches over the Grand Canal. He was arrested and sentenced to death but released for a variety of reasons, including the public response to the British execution of Rising leaders. He was imprisoned in four English prisons (Dartmoor, Lewes, Maidstone, and Pentonville), before returning to Ireland and becoming one of the leading political figures of the War of Independence. He was elected president of Sinn Féin on 25 October 1917, a post he held until 1926; and on 27 October he was also elected president of the Irish Volunteers.
De Valera's refusal to participate as one of the Irish plenipotentiaries in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, in the conference that began on 11 October and culminated with the signing of the treaty in the early hours of 6 December 1921. The Dáil approved the treaty by 64 votes to 57 on 7 January 1922. De Valera resigned as president of Dáil Éireann but stood for reelection and was even more narrowly defeated, by 60 votes to 58, on 10 January. De Valera's refusal to accept those votes as a final verdict ensured that the treaty split became the great divide in the party politics of independent Ireland. Relations between the new Irish government, which was backed by most of the Dáil and the electorate, and the anti-Treaty side under the nominal leadership of de Valera, descended into the Irish Civil War (June 1922 to May 1923), in which the pro-treaty Free State forces defeated the anti-Treaty IRA. De Valera was arrested by Free State troops on 15 August 1923 and not released until 16 July 1924. De Valera's breach with Sinn Féin was further postponed when the party's ard fheis in 1925 evaded the issue, but an IRA convention in November – adopting a new constitution, freeing the IRA from political control – sharpened the divide. A month later he announced the formation of a new republican party, Fianna Fáil, with the first objective of ‘securing the political independence of a united Ireland as a republic’; its other objectives were the restoration of the Irish language, a social system of equal opportunity, land redistribution designed to maximise the number of families on the land, and economic self-sufficiency. The ensuing election (June 1927) marked a decisive step in de Valera's quest for a majority: Fianna Fáil won 44 seats while the government party slumped from 63 to 47.
On 9 March 1932 the dáil elected Éamon de Valera president of the executive council by 81 to 68, a majority dependent on the Labour Party and some independent support in addition to the 72 Fianna Fáil deputies. He at once initiated steps to fulfil his election promises to abolish the oath and withhold land annuities owed to the UK for loans provided under the Irish Land Acts and agreed as part of the 1921 Treaty. In the 1948 election, Fianna Fáil lost the outright majority they had held for sixteen years and De Valera became Leader of the Opposition before returning to the Dáil as Taoiseach in 1951. He departed the active politics of the Dáil in 1959 and successfully secured the presidency of Ireland, and was inaugurated President of Ireland on 25 June 1959. Éamon de Valera died aged 92 after a brief illness on 29 August 1975.
Dictionary of Irish Biography (2009) https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.002472.v1
Robert "Bobby" Molloy was an Irish politician born in Galway on 9 July 1936. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Galway West constituency in 1965. In 1968, he was also elected Mayor of Galway. He served as Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Minister of State to the Government, Minister for Energy, Minister for Defence, Minister for Local Government, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education.
Anthony Gerard Richard Cronin was an Irish poet, arts activist, biographer, commentator, critic, editor and cultural advisor to Taoiseach, Charles J Haughey.
Patrick Smith was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who served as a Teachta Dála from 1923 until 1977
Mícheál Ó Móráin was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Justice from 1968 to 1970, Minister for the Gaeltacht from 1957 to 1959, and 1961 to 1968 and Minister for Lands from 1959 to 1968. He served as Teachta Dála (TD) from 1938 to 1973
Seán Francis MacEntee was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 1959 to 1969, Minister for Social Welfare from 1957 to 1961, Minister for Health from 1957 to 1965, Minister for Local Government and Public Health from 1941 to 1948, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1939 to 1941, Minister for Finance from 1932 to 1939 and 1951 to 1954. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1969.
Michael [?Brendan] Kenny was born on 29 September 1919 to Kevin J Kenny and Annette Kenny (née Murphy). He attended school at the Dominican Convent in Wicklow Town, Wicklow; Loreto College, North Great George’s Street, Dublin; Belvedere College, Dublin, and Clongowes Wood College, Clane, Kildare.
He worked at Kenny’s Advertising Agency and became managing-director of the agency when his father Kevin J Kenny died in 1954. Like his father, Michael was a leading figure in the Irish advertising sector and was involved in numerous professional bodies. At various points throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, he was president of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners; president of the Irish Association of Advertisers; president of the Irish Association of Advertising Agencies, and chair of the Publicity Club of Ireland. Like his father, Michael was an active member of the Dublin Rotary (he was elected president of the Rotary Club of Dun Laoghaire in 1973), was a Knight of Saint Columbanus, and served as Portuguese Consul to Ireland for a period.
In 1963, Michael oversaw the move of Kenny’s Advertising Agency from Abbey Street to new premises in Lower Baggot Street, Dublin. His eldest son Stuart succeeded him as managing director of the agency in 1974.
Michael was a keen golfer and cricketer, and was president of Dun Laoghaire Bowling Club at one point. He was a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association from 1935 until his death.
Michael married Eileen Morgan in 1942 and they had four children: Stuart, Brendan, Colum and May. Michael died on 5 September 1992 in Dalkey, Dublin.
Frank P Hussey was a member of the teaching staff of the faculty of agriculture at UCD [University College Dublin].
Seán Francis Lemass, a Irish revolutionary, politician, and taoiseach, was born 15 July 1899 in Norwood Cottage, Ballybrack, Dublin. After serving as a young Volunteer in the 1916 Rising, and escaping deportation, he worked in the family drapery shop on Capel Street, Dublin, for some time, before rejoining the Volunteers as a full-time officer. Following his arrest in 1920, he was interned in Ballykinlar, Down, for a year. He opposed the Treaty, fought in the Four Courts during the Civil War, and was subsequently interned in the Curragh Camp, Kildare and Mountjoy Jail, Dublin. Upon release, he turned to the political side of the republican movement and was elected TD for Dublin South in 1924 but abstained from taking his seat. Influential in founding the Fianna Fáil Party in 1926, he was appointed Minster for Industry and Commerce, when the party entered government in 1932. During the Emergency (1941–5), his portfolio expanded to cover the Ministry of Supplies. In 1945, Éamon de Valera nominated him as Tánaiste, and he succeeded de Valera as Taoiseach in 1959, staying in office until 1966. Lemass is remembered for building up Ireland's industry and infrastructure and founded many state bodies to achieve this such as Bord na Móna, Aer Lingus and Irish Shipping.
John Mary "Jack" Lynch was an Irish politician, sportsperson, and taoiseach, born 15 August 1917 in Shandon, Cork. He began practising as a barrister in Cork in 1945, and in the February 1958 general election, he topped the poll for the Cork Borough constituency and became a Fianna Fáil TD in the 13th Dáil. Under the party leadership of Éamon de Valera, he was appointed a researcher and a secretary to the parliamentary party, and in 1951 he was made parliamentary secretary to the government with special responsibility for the Gaeltacht, an appointment that enabled him to attend cabinet meetings. After the 1957 general election, Fianna Fáil returned to power and Lynch joined the government as Minister for Education. In 1959, Seán Lemass succeeded de Valera as Taoiseach, and Lynch was promoted to his role as Minister for Industry and Commerce, and after the election of April 1965, Lemass chose him to succeed James Ryan as Minister for Finance. On Lemass's retirement in 1966, despite some initial reluctance to run, Lynch defeated George Collery in the ballot and became Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil on 10 November 1966. He served as Taoiseach until 1973, and returned for a second term in 1977 until his resignation as taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil on 5 December 1979. He died 20 October 1999 in the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook, Dublin.
Neil Terence Columba Blaney was born in Rossnakill, County Donegal on 1 October 1922, the eldest of the eleven children of Neal (Neil) Blaney, TD, and his wife, Nora (née Sweeney). He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1948 as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála representing Donegal East. Blaney served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (1957), Minister for Local Government (1957–1966) and Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (1966–1970). In an incident known as the Arms Crisis, Blaney, along with Charles J Haughey, was sacked from Taoiseach Jack Lynch's cabinet amid allegations of the use of funds to import arms for use by the Irish Republican Army. Haughey and Blaney were subsequently tried in court along with an army Officer, Captain James Kelly, and Albert Luykx, a Belgian businessman who allegedly used his contacts to buy the arms. At trial, all the accused were acquitted. Although Blaney was cleared of wrongdoing, his ministerial career was brought to an end. Following his expulsion from the Fianna Fáil party, Blayney contested all subsequent elections for Independent Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party, an organisation that he built up, chiefly in the County Donegal constituencies from disaffected members of the Fianna Fáil party who remained loyal to him along with a large number of Republicans. Blaney contracted cancer from which he died at the age of 73 on 8 November 1995.
Gerard Collins is an Irish politician was born 16 October 1938 in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as Teachta Dáil for Fianna Fáil representing Limerick West. Collins served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Minister for Justice, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Justice.
Kevin Boland was born 15 October 1917 in Fairview, Dublin, the son of Gerald Boland, Fianna Fáil TD and cabinet minister, and his wife, Annie (née Keating), former Cumann na mBan and Gaelic League activist. After training as a civil engineer and serving as a lieutenant in the army during the Emergency (World War II) Boland worked in the Fianna Fáil party organisation. He was first elected to the Dáil for Dublin County in the 1957 general election, after standing unsuccessfully in 1951 and 1954 and serving on Dublin corporation. He was re-elected for Dublin County in 1961 and 1965 and Dublin South County in 1969. He became Minister for Defence and held this post until 1961, overseeing the internment of IRA members. He then served as Minister for Social Welfare (1961–6) and minister for local government (1966–70).On 5 May 1970 Boland resigned from the cabinet after the dismissal of Haughey and Blaney over the attempted arms importation. After the arrest of Haughey, Blaney, and others on 27–8 May, Boland publicly accused Lynch of ‘felon-setting’ (exposing northern nationalists to arrest). He resigned as party secretary and was expelled from the parliamentary party.
After the acquittal of the arms trial defendants on 23 October 1970, he joined calls for Lynch's resignation but was soon isolated. He resigned from the Dáil on 4 November 1970, considering himself bound by his party pledge but refusing to endorse perjured evidence in a vote of confidence. Boland tried to organise a grassroots revolt at the Fianna Fáil ard fheis on 19–21 February 1971 but it was defeated. He left Fianna Fáil in May 1972. The following month, encouraged by his father, he founded a republican party, Aontacht Éireann, which ran thirteen candidates (including Boland in Dublin South County) in the 1973 general election; all were defeated. In the 1970s and 1980s Boland produced several small books on Irish life and politics. Boland died 23 September 2001 after a short illness.
By Patrick Maume, Dictionary of Irish Biography (2009) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.000768.v1
Brian Joseph Lenihan was born 17 November 1930 in Dundalk, Louth. After unsuccessfully contesting Longford–Westmeath for Fianna Fáil in the 1954 general election, he switched to the Roscommon constituency, where he built a base by service on the county council and the vocational education committee (both 1955–61). Succeeding his father on the Fianna Fáil national executive, he was among the youthful activists who assisted Seán Lemass in a thoroughgoing reform of the party's organisation. After serving on the industrial and commercial panel in Seanad Éireann (1957–61), he was elected on his third attempt to Dáil Éireann, and commenced a twelve-year tenure (Roscommon (1961–9), Roscommon–Leitrim (1969–73)). After Donogh O'Malley's sudden death (March 1968), Lenihan succeeded him as Minister for Education (1968–9), and later became Minister for Transport and Power (1969–73). Losing his Dáil seat amid Fianna Fáil's defeat in the 1973 general election, Lenihan served as Fianna Fáil leader in the Seanad (1973–7), and was campaign manager for Erskine Childers (qv) (1905–74) during the latter's successful candidacy in the 1973 presidential election. An appointed member of the European parliament (1973–7), he led the Fianna Fáil delegation, and helped forge the party's lasting alliance with the French Gaullists. Having moved residence in 1971 from the Athlone area to 24 Parkview, Castleknock, Co. Dublin, he served on Dublin county council (1974–7). Topping the poll in the 1977 general election, he commenced an eighteen-year tenure as TD for Dublin County West (1977–81) and Dublin West (1981–95). On Fianna Fáil's return to power as a minority government in March 1987, Lenihan became tánaiste and minister for foreign affairs (1987–9). Throughout the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats coalition's tenure he was chairman of the oireachtas joint committee on foreign affairs (May 1993–January 1995), and occasionally acted behind the scenes to facilitate the Northern Ireland peace process. Five weeks after hospitalisation with an acute illness, he died 1 November 1995 in the Mater Misericordiae hospital, Dublin.
By Lawrence William White, (2009) Dictionary of Irish Biography DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.004788.v1
Patrick Delap was an Irish politician and medical doctor born 17 March 1932. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1970 as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for the Donegal–Leitrim constituency.
David Andrews was an Irish politician born 15 March 1935 in Clonskeagh, Dublin. He was first elected as a Teachta Dála for Fianna Fáil in 1965 for the Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown constituency. He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence, Minister for the Marine, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Defence.
James “Jim” Tunney, politician, was born 25 December 1924 in Finglas, Co. Dublin. In 1963 he joined Fianna Fáil and was invited to stand in Dublin North-West in the general election of 1965, but failed to take a second seat for his party. Elected to Dublin city council (1967–79), he was first elected to the Dáil for Dublin North-West, the second of four TDs, in the general election of 18 June 1969 and was later appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Education (December 1972–February 1973), with special responsibility for youth and sport. He topped the poll in the general election of 28 February 1973, was opposition spokesman on the Gaeltacht (1973–7), and was an alderman on Dublin corporation (1974–8). Having topped the poll in the general election of 16 June 1977, he was reappointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Education with special responsibility for youth and sport (1977–81) by Taoiseach Jack Lynch and then by, Charles Haughey. He served as Leas-Cheann Comhairle in 1981–2 and was the first TD to be elected for Dublin North-West in the general election of 18 February 1982, repeating this performance in the general election of 24 November 1982. First appointed Chairman of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in late 1982. He was elected lord mayor of Dublin in 1985–6, and became Leas-Cheann Comhairle again in 1987–92. In the general election of 17 February 1987 he was the third of four deputies returned for Dublin North-West and was the second to be elected TD for the constituency in the general election of 15 June 1989, only losing his seat in the general election of 1992. In electoral terms he was one of the most successful politicians of his generation, having held his seat for twenty-three years in eight successive general elections.
He served on a number of bodies, including the Eastern Regional Development Board (1970–79), the Dublin Vocational Education Committee (1974–9), Conradh na Gaelige, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the New Ireland Forum, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, and the Vocational Teachers' Association. He served too as Co-Chairman of the British–Irish inter-parliamentary body and was a governor of the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin (later DCU).
By Gerry McElory, Dictionary of Irish Biography (2009) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.008677.v1
Dan Wallace, Irish politician was born 14 June 1942 in Cork. He served for almost twenty five years as Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency.
Maureen Frances Haughey (neé Lemass) was born in Dublin on September 3rd 1925, the eldest child of Kathleen and Seán Lemass. Her father Seán was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. She attended University College Dublin, where she obtained BA Commerce degree. It was at UCD she met her future husband, Charles Haughey. Maureen Haughey's brother Noel Lemass also served as a Fianna Fáil TD, while her sister-in-law, Eileen Lemass, also served as a member of Dáil Éireann. Her youngest son, Seán Haughey, has served as Lord Mayor of Dublin and was a TD and has previously been a Minister of State. She died on 17 March 2017, aged 91.