Portraits in Power: WT Cosgrave
WT Cosgrave was referred to as a ‘ninny’ by Éamon de Valera, but this deceptively mild-mannered man would defy objectors to allow the Anglo-Irish Treaty to be ratified and ruthlessly stem the chaos of the aftermath of the Civil War, writes Tim Pat Coogan
WT Cosgrave (1880-1965)
Party: Cumann na nGaedheal (later Fine Gael)
Constituency: North Kilkenny, Carlow-Kilkenny, Cork Borough
In office: December 1922-March 1932
Key quote:“To save the farmers, help industries, reduce unemployment, protect individual liberty, work constantly for peace, and build up the whole of Ireland” - On Fine Gael’s mission (1933)
William Thomas Cosgrave was arguably the politician most responsible for the Anglo-Irish Treaty being ratified and the subsequent emergence of the Irish Free ...
