From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

James Dillon (Fine Gael politician)

Irish politician (1902–1986)

Summary

Irish politician (1902–1986)

Field	Value
name	James Dillon
image	James Dillon circa 1930s.jpg
caption	Dillon, c. 1930s
office	Leader of the Opposition
president	Éamon de Valera
taoiseach	Seán Lemass
term_start	21 October 1959
term_end	21 April 1965
predecessor	John A. Costello
successor	Liam Cosgrave
office1	Leader of Fine Gael
term_start1	21 March 1959
term_end1	21 April 1965
predecessor1	Richard Mulcahy
successor1	Liam Cosgrave
office2	Minister for Agriculture
taoiseach2	John A. Costello
term_start2	2 June 1954
term_end2	20 March 1957
predecessor2	Thomas Walsh
successor2	Frank Aiken
taoiseach3	John A. Costello
term_start3	18 February 1948
term_end3	13 June 1951
predecessor3	Paddy Smith
successor3	Thomas Walsh
office4	Teachta Dála
term_start4	July 1937
term_end4	June 1969
constituency4	Monaghan
term_start5	February 1932
term_end5	July 1937
constituency5	Donegal
birth_date
birth_place	Dublin, Ireland
death_date
death_place	Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon, Ireland
party	Fine Gael (1933–1942, 1952–1986)
otherparty
spouse
children	1
father	John Dillon
mother	Elizabeth Mathew
relatives
alma_mater

|}} James Mathew Dillon (26 September 1902 – 10 February 1986) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of Fine Gael from 1959 to 1965 and Minister for Agriculture from 1948 to 1951 and 1954 to 1957. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1932 to 1969.

Early and personal life

Dillon was born at 2 North Great George's Street, Dublin. His mother Elizabeth Mathew, died when he was 4, and he subsequently raised by his father, John Dillon, who was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (1918). He was educated at Mount St Benedict's, in Gorey, County Wexford, University College Dublin and King's Inns. He qualified as a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1931. Dillon studied business methods at Selfridges in London. After some time at Marshall Field's in Chicago, he returned to Ireland where he became manager of the family business known as Monica Duff's in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon.

In 1942, while on holiday in Carna, County Galway, he met Maura Phelan of Clonmel on a Friday. By the following Monday, the two were engaged, and six weeks after that, they married. He was 40, and she was 22 years of age.

Political career

In February 1932, Dillon was elected as an independent as one of the TDs for the Donegal constituency. In September 1932, he joined the National Centre Party, and after its merger with Cumann na nGaedheal, the new party of Fine Gael. Dillon played a key role in instigating the creation of Fine Gael and would become a key member of the party in later years. He remained as TD for Monaghan from 1937 to 1969. Dillon became deputy leader of Fine Gael under W. T. Cosgrave.

Dillon resigned from Fine Gael in 1942 over its stance on Irish neutrality during World War II. While Fine Gael supported the government's decision to stay out of the war, Dillon urged the government to side with the Allies. A passionate anti-Nazi, Dillon described the Nazi creed as "the devil himself with twentieth-century efficiency". His zeal against Hitler drew him the ire of the German Minister to Ireland Eduard Hempel, who denounced him as a "Jew" and "German-hater". Even Éamon de Valera, then Taoiseach, was not spared the fierceness of Dillon's rhetoric; when the Taoiseach ridiculed Dillon's stark support for the Allies, noting this meant he had to adopt a Pro-British stance, Dillon defiantly retorted: In 1944, as the danger of allied defeat receded he was approached by Fine Gael to rejoin the party and offered the leadership, on condition he relinquished his views on neutrality, especially since they were no longer strategically important. He refused – ironically, had he accepted, he might well have been Taoiseach in 1948.

Dillon was one of the independents TDs who was part of the first inter-party government (1948–1951), and was appointed Minister for Agriculture. As minister, Dillon was responsible for huge improvements in Irish agriculture. Money was spent on land reclamation projects in the areas of less fertile land, while the overall quality of Irish agricultural produce increased.

Dillon rejoined Fine Gael in May 1952. He became Minister for Agriculture again in the second inter-party government (1954–1957). In 1959, Dillon became leader of Fine Gael, succeeding Richard Mulcahy. He became president of the party in 1960. In 1965, Fine Gael lost the general election to Seán Lemass and Fianna Fáil. The non-Fianna Fáil parties won 69 seats to Fianna Fáil's 72. Having narrowly failed to become Taoiseach, Dillon stood down as Fine Gael leader after the election.

In Northern Ireland, while Dillon stood against Partition, he equally opposed any "armed solution" or militant nationalist policy, stating:

Dillon was a colourful contributor to Dáil proceedings and was noted for his high standard of oratory. He remained a TD until 1969, when he retired from politics. He died in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon, on 10 February 1986, at the age of 83.

Elections to the Dáil	Party	Election	FPv	FPv%	Result
	Donegal	1932	7,645	11.8	Elected on count 1/12
	Donegal	1933	5,319	7.6	Elected on count 6/8
Fine Gael}};"		Fine Gael	Monaghan	1937	7,653	24.4
Monaghan	1938	9,318	29.3	Elected on count 1/2
Independent politician (Ireland)}};"		Independent	Monaghan	1943	5,406	18.3
Monaghan	1944	8,416	31.9	Elected on count 1/1
Monaghan	1948	6,621	23.1	Elected on count 4/7
Monaghan	1951	9,285	33.1	Elected on count 1/2
Fine Gael}};"		Fine Gael	Monaghan	1954	6,709	24.2
Monaghan	1957	5,894	23.3	Elected on count 4/6
Monaghan	1961	7,887	30.8	Elected on count 1/4
Monaghan	1965	7,668	30.5	Elected on count 1/4

References

"James Dillon". Oireachtas Members Database.
Manning, Maurice. "Dillon, James Mathew". [[Dictionary of Irish Biography]].
Holohan, Renagh. "Dillon's wedding vow". The Irish Times.
"James Dillon". ElectionsIreland.org.
MCCARTNEY, DONAL. (Oct 16, 1999). "A decent patriot". [[The Irish Times]].
Horgan, John. "An Irishman's Diary on censorship and the Oireachtas". The Irish Times.
"A Tale of Three Dillons 1816-1986- Ballagh Gala Reunion 1998 | Lough Gara Lakes & Legends".
(2020). "Saving the State: Fine Gael from Collins to Varadkar". Gill.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1902-births 1986-deaths alumni-of-university-college-dublin irish-barristers 20th-century-irish-farmers leaders-of-fine-gael members-of-the-7th-dáil members-of-the-8th-dáil members-of-the-9th-dáil members-of-the-10th-dáil members-of-the-11th-dáil members-of-the-12th-dáil members-of-the-13th-dáil members-of-the-14th-dáil members-of-the-15th-dáil members-of-the-16th-dáil members-of-the-17th-dáil members-of-the-18th-dáil ministers-for-agriculture-of-ireland national-centre-party-(ireland)-tds presidential-appointees-to-the-council-of-state-(ireland) 20th-century-irish-lawyers independent-tds fine-gael-tds alumni-of-king's-inns lawyers-from-dublin-(city) politicians-from-dublin-(city)

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about James Dillon (Fine Gael politician) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report