Sean Lemass (Gill's Irish Lives)

The biography of Sean Lemass, who was a founder-member of Fianna Fail in 1926 and became Minister for Industry and Commerce when the party first came to power in 1932. He held this position in every Fianna Fail government until 1959. During World War II he also held the post of Minister for Supplies. When de Valera retired from active politics in 1959, Lemass succeeded him as Taoiseach. He helped prepare the country for the dismantling of the tariff system which he himself had built up in the 1930s. In 1965 he negotiated the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement as well as making his celebrated visit to Belfast to see Terence O'Neill, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He retired as Taoiseach in 1966 and from public life three years later. Other books by the author include "Chairman or Chief?". "The Irish Parliamentary Tradition" and "The Founding of Dail Eireann".