J. J. Walsh

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Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Hiberno-English Template:Infobox officeholder James Joseph Walsh (20 February 1880 – 3 February 1948), generally referred to as J. J. Walsh, was Postmaster General, (later Minister for Posts and Telegraphs) of the Irish Free State from 1923 to 1927.<ref name=oireachtas_db>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also a senior Gaelic Athletic Association organiser and Cumann na nGaedheal politician. Later, Walsh had heavy connections with fascism, including his association with Ailtirí na hAiséirghe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Early years

J. J. Walsh was born in the townland of Rathroon, near Bandon, County Cork.<ref name=dib>Template:Cite web</ref> His family came from a farming background, "working a substantial holding of medium but well-cultivated land".<ref name="Walsh p9">Walsh p9</ref> Until the age of fifteen, Walsh attended a local school in Bandon, but by his own account "as far as learning went, I may as well have been at home".<ref name="Walsh p9"/> Together with his school-friend P. S. O'Hegarty, he passed the Civil Service exams for the Postal service. He later worked locally as a clerk in the Post Office. Like O'Hegarty, he spent three years in London at King's College, studying for the Secretary's Office "a syllabus (which) differed little from the Indian Civil Service". While O'Hegarty succeeded in his studies, Walsh did not, and returned to Cork where a friend, Sir Edward Fitzgerald, arranged work for him on the Entertainments Committee of the Cork International Exhibition.<ref>Walsh p10</ref>

Sport

Walsh was active in the Gaelic Athletic Association, promoting Gaelic games in many areas, but particularly in Cork city and county. His interest in organised sports had a strong political dimension.

I happened to be one of those who realised the potentialities of the G.A.A. as a training ground for Physical Force. Contamination with the alien and all his works was taboo. I gathered around me a force of youthful enthusiasts from the University, Civil Service and Business. With this intensely organised instrument, war was declared on foreign games which were made to feel the shock so heavily that one by one, Soccer and Rugby Clubs began to disappear.<ref>Walsh p16</ref>

He was also instrumental in establishing the 'revived' Tailteann Games.

He was Chairman of the Cork County Council GAA.<ref name=jj>Template:Cite web</ref>

Politics

He was involved of the founding of the Cork City Irish Volunteers.<ref name=jj/>

He participated in the Easter Rising in 1916 in the GPO.<ref>O'Mahony P65 par. 13</ref> He claims he was responsible for mobilising 20 members of the Hibernian Rifles and took them to the GPO.<ref name=jj/> However Rifles commandant John J. Scollan contradicts this account.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was promoted from Rifleman to Vice-Commandant of the Hibernian Rifles in 1915.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He was arrested following the general surrender and sentenced to death after a court-martial at Richmond Barracks. This was almost immediately commuted to life imprisonment, but he was released the following year under a general amnesty.

In later 1917 he was arrested and imprisoned after making a speech declaring "the only way to address John Bull is through the barrel of a rifle".<ref name=doib>Template:Cite web</ref> In Autumn 1919 he was involved in a failed assassination attempt on Lord French.<ref>The Twelve apostles by Tim Pat Coogan page 141</ref>

Walsh was elected as a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1918 general election for the Cork City constituency.<ref name=elecs_irl>Template:Cite web</ref> As a member of the 1st Dáil he was arrested for partaking in an illegal government. He was released in 1921 and supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and went on to become a founding member of the new political party, Cumann na nGaedheal. Walsh served as Postmaster General from 1922 until 1924. In March 1922 the government cut the biannual cost of living bonuses given to post office workers and in September there were further cuts, this led to a strike by the post office workers. Walsh threatened the strikers with dismissals and the government sent in the Army to disrupt pickets and do the work of the strikers. Later that month the strike came to an end.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In August 1922 he was part of a government committee which was intended to consider what the Irish Free State's policy towards North-east Ulster would be.<ref>Michael Collins by Tim Pat Coogan, page 384.</ref>

He joined the cabinet of W. T. Cosgrave between 1924 and 1927, after the office was reconstituted as the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. He was elected at every election for the Cork Borough constituency until 1927 when he retired from government. In 1924 he served as the chairman of the Cumann na nGaedheal organising committee and later as the chairman of the organisation in general from 1926 to 1927.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Walsh was a supporter of agricultural tariffs and championed the proposals of the Cork Industrial Development Association.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1927 he resigned from the party and announced that he would not be contesting the election in September. Walsh cited his disagreement with the party's policy on free trade as a reason for his resignation. He wrote that Cumann na nGaedheal "has gone bodily over to the most reactionary elements of the state who will henceforth control its policies".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

During World War II, known at the time in Ireland as "the Emergency", Walsh's connections with fascism, including his association with Ailtirí na hAiséirghe,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> brought him to the attention of the Directorate of Intelligence (G2), the Intelligence branch of the Irish Army. They considered Walsh as a potential "Quisling" in the case of a German invasion of Ireland. Their request to the Minister for Justice, Gerald Boland, to place a tap on Walsh's phone was, however, refused.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>O'Halpin Defending Ireland p223</ref> Walsh took the same tram as the head of the G2, Dan Bryan, who recalls that in 1940, as reports of German military successes were reported in Irish newspapers, Walsh looked up from his newspaper and told him "I see we are still winning". Although his phone was not wiretapped, the telephones in the German embassy were. After the Belfast Blitz began in 1941, he was recorded telling the Germans that they ought to bomb Enniskillen, not Belfast.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Walsh was closely associated with Irish-based pro-Nazi initiatives through his association with Ailtirí na hAiséirghe,<ref name=":0" /> namely the "Irish Friends of Germany" and the "Young Ireland Association" groups, and also "Cumann Náisiúnta", a pro-Nazi political party.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He frequently expressing his views with anti-semitic rhetoric.<ref>Walsh pp12-13,44</ref> He was a major financial backer of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> providing money and offices for the party's newspaper and paying many of their election deposits in the 1944 election.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1944 he published a short memoir, 'Recollections of a Rebel'.<ref name=doib/>

On Sunday 24 April 2016 a plaque commemorating J.J. Walsh was unveiled in Kilbrittain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

References

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