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James FitzGerald-Kenney

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For other people with the same name, see James Kenney (disambiguation).

James Fitzgerald-Kenny
Minister for Justice
In office
12 October 1927 – 9 March 1932
PresidentW. T. Cosgrave
Preceded byW. T. Cosgrave
Succeeded byJames Geoghegan
Parliamentary Secretary
1927Justice
Teachta Dála
In office
June 1927 – May 1944
ConstituencyMayo South
Personal details
Born(1878-01-01)1 January 1878
Claremorris, County Mayo, Ireland
Died21 October 1956(1956-10-21) (aged 78)
Galway, Ireland
Political partyFine Gael
Other political
affiliations		Cumann na nGaedheal
EducationClongowes Wood College
Alma mater

James FitzGerald-Kenney (1 January 1878 – 21 October 1956) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and barrister who served as Minister for Justice from 1927 to 1932. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo South constituency from 1927 to 1944.[1]

Biography

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He was born at his mother's family home in Clogher, near Claremorris, County Mayo. He was the second son of James Fitzgerald-Kenney of Galway and Helena Crean-Lynch.[2] He was educated at Clongowes Wood College and University College Dublin, where he took his degree in 1898.[2] He was called to the Bar in 1899 and built up a large practice on the Western Circuit. He was called to the Inner Bar in 1925.[2]

In politics, he was until 1918 a supporter of John Redmond; he joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and became an inspecting officer for South Mayo. After the split within the Volunteers in late 1914 over whether to serve with the British Army in World War I or not, FitzGerald-Kenney aligned with the Redmondite National Volunteers who opted in favour of doing so.[3]

Political career

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In June 1927, he was elected as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD for Mayo South and became parliamentary secretary to acting Minister for Justice W. T. Cosgrave. Following the assassination of Kevin O’Higgins, he was appointed Minister for Justice on October 11, 1927, a position he held until 1932.[2] His appointment as a minister after only a few months in parliament caused a surprise, and as the least experienced cabinet member, he often became the focus of opposition criticism and struggled with parliamentary duties. Unlike O'Higgins he allowed Eoin O'Duffy complete discretion as to how he ran the police force.[4] He occasionally invited ridicule in his willingness to defend O'Duffy: his claim that a victim of Garda brutality had been knocked down by a cow led to a brief fashion for referring to Gardaí as "Fitzgerald-Kenney's cows".[5]

When the Four Courts, which had been badly damaged during the Irish Civil War, reopened in 1931, he firmly vetoed the proposal by the Chief Justice of Ireland Hugh Kennedy to hold a formal ceremony to mark the occasion, on the ground that it would virtually amount to an invitation to extremists to attack the building again.[6]

Following the merger of Cumann na nGaedheal with the National Centre Party and the Army Comrades Association (better known as the Blueshirts) to form Fine Gael in September 1933, he lost his front bench seat. He was involved with the Blueshirts and led its youth section.[3]

After losing in the 1944 general election, he declined a nomination to Seanad Éireann by the bar council and chose to retire from politics to focus on his legal career and spent his remaining years farming at Clogher which he inherited from his mother.[7]

Personal life

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A dedicated supporter of the Irish language, Fitzgerald-Kenney was a pioneering member of the Gaelic League in Mayo, where he established and chaired the local branch.[2] He also had a passion for shooting and golf. In addition to his political and legal careers, he managed the large estate at Clogher House, Mayo, which he inherited from his mother in 1903.[3]

FitzGerald-Kenney died on 21 October 1956, in a Dublin nursing home, leaving an estate valued at £3,713. He never married, and his papers are preserved in the James Hardiman Library at the National University of Ireland, Galway.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "James FitzGerald-Kenney". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gillespie, Bernie (27 October 1956). "Passing of Noted Mayo Man Mr. James Fitzgerald-Kenney, S.C". Connaught Telegraph. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Coleman, Marie (October 2009). "Kenney, James Christopher Fitzgerald-". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  4. ^ McGarry, Feargal. Eoin O'Duffy-a Self-Made Hero. Oxford University Press, 2005, p178.
  5. ^ McGarry, p.181.
  6. ^ MacCormaick, Ruadhán, The Supreme Court, Penguin Random House 2016 pp.34-35
  7. ^ "James FitzGerald-Kenney". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
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Political offices
New office Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Justice
1927 		Office abolished
Preceded by Minister for Justice
1927–1932 		Succeeded by
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