James FitzGerald-Kenney

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.

Biography

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. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College and University College Dublin, where he took his degree in 1898. 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.

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.

Political career

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. 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. 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".

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.MacCormaick, Ruadhán, ''The Supreme Court'', Penguin Random House 2016 pp.34-35

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.

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.

Personal life

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. 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.

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.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald-Kenney, James
1878 births
1956 deaths
Alumni of King's Inns
Alumni of University College Dublin
Cumann na nGaedheal TDs
Fine Gael TDs
Irish barristers
Members of the 10th Dáil
Members of the 11th Dáil
Members of the 5th Dáil
Members of the 6th Dáil
Members of the 7th Dáil
Members of the 8th Dáil
Members of the 9th Dáil
Members of the Blueshirts
Ministers for justice of Ireland
Parliamentary secretaries of the 5th Dáil
People educated at Clongowes Wood College