Fahy, Francis, 1879-, former Jesuit Novice
- Person
- 23 May 1879-12 July 1953
Born: 23 May 1879, Glenatallan, Kilconickny, Loughrea, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 12 July 1953, Ranelagh, Dublin City, County Dublin
Left Society of Jesus: October 1900
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Dismissed from 1st probation. No Vocation
https://www.dib.ie/biography/fahy-francis-patrick-frank-a2988
Fahy, Francis Patrick (‘Frank’)
Contributed by
White, Lawrence William; Ferriter, Diarmaid
Forename: Francis, Patrick
Surname: Fahy
Nickname: Frank
Gender: Male
Career: Politics, Irish Language
Born 23 May 1879 in Co. Galway
Died 12 July 1953 in Co. Dublin
Fahy, Francis Patrick (‘Frank’) (1879–1953), politician and Irish-language activist, was born 23 May 1879 at Glenatallan, Kilconickny, Loughrea, Co. Galway, eldest among five sons and two daughters of John Fahy, teacher, and Maria Fahy (née Jones). After receiving initial education at his father's national school at Kilchreest, Co. Galway, he boarded at Mungret College, Limerick, and subsequently graduated from UCG with a BA and an H.Dip. in education and double diploma in science; he was also called to the bar in 1927 at King's Inns, Dublin. On leaving UCG he began teaching at the Christian Brothers' school in Tralee, and afterwards taught Latin, Irish, and science at St Vincent's College, Castleknock, Dublin (1906–21). Closely associated with Patrick Pearse (qv), Thomas MacDonagh (qv), and Arthur Griffith (qv), Fahy became a Gaelic League activist (and, later, general secretary of the league), and treasurer of the Kerry county board of the GAA. During school holidays he assisted Liam Mellows (qv) in organising units of the Irish Volunteers, of which he was a founding member, in his native area of east Galway. As captain of C Company, 1st Bn, Dublin Bde, under Edward Daly (qv), he commanded the contingent that occupied the Four Courts during the 1916 rising. Sentenced to ten years in prison, he spent terms in several British jails. Released in the general amnesty of June 1917, he was active in the reorganisation of the Volunteer movement, addressing public meetings throughout the country. Again arrested during the ‘German plot’ round-up of May 1918, he was deported without trial to Reading jail. Sinn Féin candidate in Galway South, he captured 85% of the vote in the December 1918 general election, trouncing the incumbent nationalist MP William John Duffy, who had held the seat for eighteen years, and commenced a thirty-five-year tenure representing several Galway constituencies that would conclude only in his death (Galway South,1918–21; Galway, 1921–37; Galway East, 1937–48; Galway South, 1948–53). A member of the first Dáil Éireann, he toured the Aran islands and Connemara on behalf of a committee examining options for revitalisation of the Irish fishing industry (a prominent feature of Sinn Féin's economic programme), and was appointed assistant minister for the national language under J. J. O'Kelly (qv). Continuing the while in his teaching post, and seeing active IRA service during the Anglo-Irish war, he is reputed to have appeared in his classroom with eyebrows singed on the day after the burning of the Custom House (25 May 1921). Although opposed to the Anglo-Irish treaty, Fahy took a more judicious and balanced approach to the issue than some of his republican colleagues, denouncing in dáil debate the intimidation of TDs by elements of the anti-treaty IRA. While asserting that, had the treaty been submitted unsigned to the dáil, it would have been rejected by an overwhelming majority, he refused to impugn the honour or integrity of the plenipotentiaries, and acknowledged their unenviable position in the London negotiations. Describing the agreement as a fait accompli on which further argument and decision must be based, he nonetheless asked: ‘Is not the declaration of the republic also a fait accompli, or have we been playing at republicanism?’ (Treaty debs., 195). He clung to the last of seven Galway seats as anti-treaty candidate in the June 1922 election. His approach, on behalf of a Gaelic League peace committee, to Austin Stack (qv) in the hope of arranging a truce during the civil war (December 1922) met with a guardedly favourable response from Éamon de Valera (qv), but was frustrated by the persisting expectations of military victory of the anti-treaty chief of staff, Liam Lynch (qv). Re-entering the dáil chamber with the new Fianna Fáil party in 1927, after the party's victory in the 1932 general election – in which he topped the poll in his constituency – he was elected ceann comhairle, a position he held till 1951, returned automatically to his dáil seat through seven general elections. He also became chairman of both the local appointments and the civil service commissions. Regarded as judicious and impartial in the speaker's chair, he retained the office even after Fianna Fáil's 1948 electoral defeat, perhaps also in recognition of the moderate position he had adopted on the treaty. In 1949 he led the Irish delegation to the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at Stockholm, where he spoke of ‘unequal treaties’ and made a forthright statement opposing the partition of Ireland. He presided at the Inter-Parliamentary conference when it met in Dublin in 1950. The following year he resigned as ceann comhairle on health grounds. Fahy married (1908) Anna Barton from Tralee, a metal artist and active member of Cumann na mBan; they had no children. Resident at the time of the Easter rising at Islandbridge, during his lengthy dáil tenure they lived at addresses in Howth, Whitehall, and Dundrum. Still a sitting TD, he died on 12 July 1953 as a result of heart disease at his home in Ranelagh, Dublin.
Sources
GRO, Dublin; Dáil private sessions (1921–2); Dáil treaty debs. (1921–2); Flynn (1928–45); Ir. Times, Ir. Independent, 13 July 1953; Ir. Press, 15 July 1953; Piaras Béaslaí, ‘The North King Street area’, in Dublin's fighting story (1956?), 52; WWW; Breandán MacGiolla Choille (ed.), Intelligence notes 1913–16 (1966); Earl of Longford and T. P. O'Neill, Eamon de Valera (1970); C. Desmond Greaves, Liam Mellows and the Irish revolution (1971); Walker; James H. Murphy (ed.), Nos autem: Castleknock College and its contribution [1996]; Arthur Mitchell, Revolutionary government in Ireland: Dáil Éireann, 1919–22 (1995); 1916 rebellion handbook (1988 ed.); Timothy McMahon (ed.), Pádraig Ó Fathaigh's war of independence: recollections of a Galway Gaelic Leaguer (2000)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Fahy_(politician)
Frank Fahy (politician)
Francis Patrick Fahy (23 May 1879 – 12 July 1953) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1932 to 1951. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1919 to his death in 1953.[1]
He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for 35 years, first for Sinn Féin and later as a member of Fianna Fáil, before becoming Ceann Comhairle (chairman) for over 19 years.[2]
Early life and revolutionary period
Fahy was born on 23 May 1879 in the townland of Glanatallin, Kilchreest, County Galway,[3] the eldest of 6 children born to John Fahy and Maria Jones. His father taught at the local National School. After an early education at his father's school in Kilchreest, he attended Mungret College in County Limerick. He later studied at University College Galway. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a H.Dip. in Education, and a Diploma in Science. From 1906 to 1921 he taught Latin, Irish and Science at Castleknock College (St Vincent's College), Dublin. Fahy qualified as a barrister in 1927 at King's Inns, Dublin and also taught at the Christian Brothers school in Tralee. He was at one time General Secretary of the Conradh na Gaeilge. He married Anna Barton of Tralee, a metal artist and member of the Cumann na mBan in 1908. They had no children.[2]
As Company Captain of C Company, 1 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers, Fahy commanded the contingent that occupied the Four Courts during the 1916 rising. Arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison, he spent terms in several British jails. Released in the general amnesty of June 1917, he was active in the reorganisation of the Volunteer movement, addressing public meetings throughout the country.[2] Fahy later applied to the Irish government for a service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 and was awarded 5 and 1/6 years service in 1937 at Grade D for his service with the Irish Volunteers from 23 April 1916 to June 1917.[4]
Fahy was first elected at the 1918 general election as a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) for Galway South, but as the party was pledged to abstentionism he did not take his seat in the British House of Commons and joined the revolutionary First Dáil. He was re-elected as TD for Galway in 1921 general election and having sided with the anti-treaty forces following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he did not take his seat in either the 3rd Dáil or the 4th Dáil. He joined Fianna Fáil when the party was founded in 1926, and along with the 42 other Fianna Fáil TDs he took his seat in the 5th Dáil on 12 August 1927,[5] three days before the Dáil tied 71 votes to 71 on a motion of no confidence in W. T. Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedheal government (a tie broken by the Ceann Comhairle).[6] After the government won two by-elections later that month, it dissolved the Dáil, leading to a fresh election.
After the September 1927 election, Cosgrave was able to form a minority government with the support of the Farmers' Party and some independent TDs. However, in the 1932 general election, Fianna Fáil won just under half of the seats and formed a government with the support of the Labour Party. The first business was of the 7th Dáil was the election of the Ceann Comhairle, and on 9 March 1932 Fahy was nominated for the position by Seán T. O'Kelly, winning the vote by a margin of 78 to 71.[7]
He held the post until Fianna Fáil lost the 1951 election, and at the start of the 14th Dáil he did not offer himself for re-election as Ceann Comhairle. He was succeeded by the Labour TD Patrick Hogan.[8] His 19 years in the chair remains the longest of any Ceann Comhairle, with the only other person to exceed 10 years as Ceann Comhairle being his successor, Patrick Hogan.[9]
The 1932 election was the last which Fahy contested; as Ceann Comhairle, he was automatically re-elected at the next seven elections. When his Galway constituency was divided for the 1937 general election, he was returned unopposed for the new Galway East, and similarly in 1948 for the new Galway South constituency.[10]
Fahy died on 12 July 1953,[11] and is buried at Deans Grange Cemetery, Dublin. The Galway South by-election held after his death was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Robert Lahiffe.[12]
References
"Frank Fahy". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
White, Lawrence William; Ferriter, Diarmaid. "Fahy, Francis Patrick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
"General Registrar's Office" (PDF). IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
Irish Military Archives, Military Service (1916-1923) Pension Collection, Frank Fahy, MSP34REF37327. Available online at http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/search.aspx?formtype=advanced.
"Dáil Éireann debates, Volume 20, 12 August 1927: New deputies take their seats". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
"PUBLIC BUSINESS. – NO CONFIDENCE MOTION – Dáil Éireann (5th Dáil)". Houses of the Oireachtas. 16 August 1927. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved
"Election of Ceann Comhairle – Dáil Éireann (7th Dáil) – Vol. 41 No. 1". Houses of the Oireachtas. 9 March 1932. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
"Dáil Éireann debates, Volume 126, 13 June 1951: Election of Ceann Comhairle". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
"Former office holders". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
"Frank Fahy". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
"Death of Mr Frank Fahy TD". Derry Journal. 13 July 1953 – via British Newspaper Archive.
"Galway South by-election, 21 August 1953". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann
In office 9 March 1932 – 13 June 1951
Preceded by Michael Hayes
Succeeded by Patrick Hogan
Teachta Dála
In office May 1951 – 12 July 1953
Constituency Galway South
In office July 1937 – May 1951
Constituency Galway East
In office May 1921 – July 1937
Constituency Galway
In office December 1918 – May 1921
Constituency Galway South
Personal details
Born Francis Patrick Fahy
23 May 1879
Kilchreest, County Galway, Ireland
Died 12 July 1953 (aged 73)
Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland
Resting place Deans Grange Cemetery, Dublin, Ireland
Political party Fianna Fáil
Spouse Anna Barton (m. 1908)
Education Mungret College
Alma mater University College Galway