POLITICS
De Valera, Rise, Volume 1 1882-1932 Dr David McCullagh Gill Books €24.99
A line in this magnificent new biography of Éamon de Valera prompted me to think that so much in politics remains the same, while so much in Ireland has changed.
De Valera’s Cumann na nGaedheal opponent WT Cosgrave called a snap election for September 15, 1927.
Dev, like all politicians of all eras, was insecure about elections and he accused Cosgrave of ‘rushing the country into an unnecessary election’ right in the middle of ‘harvest season’.
Just over 80 years later, our current Fine Gael Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was criticised for considering an election in the run-up to Christmas.
Cosgrave wanted to improve his Dáil position and capitalise on the recent assassination of Justice Minister Kevin O’Higgins.
The mark of an accomplished historical biographer is that he can take a famous figure and tell you something you didn’t already know.
David McCullagh’s De Valera Volume 1 covers the years between 1882 and 1932 – and I thought I was well informed about the era.
Not so it seems. Most history students know that Kevin O’Higgins, as he lay mortally wounded after being shot by the IRA, forgave his murderers.
What I didn’t know was that he was unforgiving of his political foe, de Valera.
‘Tell my colleagues that they must be wary of him in public life; he will play down to the weaknesses of people,’ said O’Higgins.
Of course, what was seen as a weakness in a Fine Gaeler was a strength for a Fianna Fáiler. De Valera was a demagogue to some and a fabulously popular politician to others.
You either loved him or hated him. And his biographers have usually come from those extreme positions.
Lord Longford and Thomas O’Neill wrote a hugely complimentary book about de Valera in 1970.
Tim Pat Coogan’s 1993 Long Fellow, Long Shadow was a deeply critical analysis.
McCullagh’s account of Commandant De Valera’s performance is far more balanced than some that have gone before.
And that goes for the entire Volume 1 of McCullagh’s monumental two-volume biography that is sure to become the definitive account of the most divisive figure in modern Irish history.
McCullagh is better known to many as a host of RTÉ’s Prime Time.
He is one of RTÉ’s more antielitist presenters and he brings that accessibility to what could be seen as an intimidating subject for the casual reader.
This book is brilliantly written and is for every reader – the neutral, the Fianna Fáil fanatic or the serious history researcher.
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President Donald Trump, that’s what happened. This is pretty much a list of all the people Hillary Clinton blames for the defeat, a list that notably excludes herself.