It has long been the standard in Ireland to pour scorn on Éamon de Valera, the former Irish prime minister, president and rebel whose career stretched from the 1910s into the 1970s. It is typical of life that the revolutionary of one era is the reactionary of the next, and it is no different for “Dev”, as he is often called. In his lifetime, he was recognised as one of the key figures of the new Irish state, a revolutionary and statesman of great political acumen and a Catholic of genuine faith. Now, he is a representative of that cruel Catholic past, with his “Legion of Mary pieties”, his inward nationalism and his repressive social and economic policies.
7:46 AM
Fianna Fáil and the loss of de Valera’s vision
Once the dominant force in Irish politics, Fianna Fáil now faces difficult questions about what remains of the ideals that animated its founder
Ruadhan Jones
5 min read
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