The Reluctant Taoiseach

by David McCullagh

  But while National Labour was publicly remaining aloof, MacEoin had travelled to Cork to meet local TD James Hickey. The National Labour man agreed that a coalition should be formed, subject to the proviso that Paddy McGilligan would be Minister for Finance. A number of other TDS—Spring, O’Leary and Everett—were also contacted and gave their approval. They naturally didn’t want their position made public in advance of their official meeting on the day before the Dáil assembled. However, MacEoin later recalled, they gave him an assurance that “if their confidence was maintained they would support the formation of a new Government”.11 Clearly, this was less than cast-iron—but it gave Mulcahy reasonable grounds for believing that an alternative government could be formed, if agreement could be reached on a Taoiseach.

  At the meeting of the other four parties on 13 February, there was broad agreement on the desirability of forming an alternative government, and on the allocation of portfolios among the parties. But Mulcahy later recalled that Labour leader Bill Norton told him that his party would not agree to “serve in a government under the leadership of one who had been the leader of another party. My reply … was that … while the Fine Gael party might feel that I should be the leader of the Government … I would not stand between them and the setting up of such a government.”12 This has sometimes been interpreted as an attempt by Norton to ease Sean MacBride’s path into government; in fact, Labour were just as opposed to Mulcahy as Clann na Poblachta, and for the same reasons.

  Crucially, at this point Norton suggested to Mulcahy that Costello should be brought to the next meeting the following night, “for the purpose of your advice and help. There was a general feeling that you should be so asked.”13 If not an explicit suggestion of Costello as a potential Taoiseach, the request certainly had that implication. Norton had known Costello for a long time, and had, as we have seen, negotiated with him a successful conclusion to the long-running dispute over the rights of transferred civil servants. Costello was also friendly with another leading Labour figure who would be a Minister, T.J. Murphy. He later recalled that they had frequent conversations in the Dáil. But he felt that the main factor making him acceptable to Labour was his father’s friendship with Big Jim Larkin from their joint service on the board of Grangegorman Hospital.14 Larkin’s son, also Jim, was overheard by Mulcahy at the time of the formation of the Second Inter-party Government saying to Costello, “Don’t you know that we would do anything for you?”15

  Costello also knew Seán MacBride from the Law Library, later claiming to have invested considerable time in trying “to persuade him to bring his gunmen colleagues within the framework of the constitution and legality—into the Dáil”.16 The other salient point is that while Costello had been Attorney General, he only took up that post in 1926, and had played no part in the Civil War. As Liam Cosgrave put it, he “had not been so prominent in politics that he had incurred any enmity”.17

  It was, then, only on the evening of Friday 13 February that Costello entered the picture. His first involvement in the discussions was to meet Patrick McGilligan along with Richard Mulcahy and the latter’s election agent, Paddy O’Reilly. O’Reilly took the view that they could persuade the other parties to accept Mulcahy as Taoiseach if they “stood firm”, but Costello disagreed.18 It seems Mulcahy was also realistic about the chances of getting support from the other parties—while some members of the front bench wanted to offer their potential partners a choice of Mulcahy or the return of de Valera, the General disagreed.19 For Mulcahy, with his memories of the Civil War split, the removal of de Valera took precedence over any ambitions of his own.

  While Costello shared this analysis, he clearly had no inkling that he would be the alternative choice. As he walked down the steps of McGilligan’s house on the Friday night, he later recalled, he said, “Now remember boys, if a government is formed, I won’t take any office, and I certainly won’t be Attorney General.”20

  Blissfully unaware of what was about to befall him, Costello did some legal work on Saturday morning, before playing four holes of golf at his local course, Milltown. He was anxious to break himself in after the election campaign before his regular game at Portmarnock the following day. But shortly after he arrived home, he had a caller, Senator James Douglas, an old friend who had some unsettling news for him.

  Douglas reported that Seán MacBride had mentioned Costello as a possible Taoiseach, and wanted to see him. Costello was at first disposed to treat the idea lightly, dismissing it as absurd, but agreed to meet his fellow barrister. According to Costello’s letter to his son Declan in Switzerland, MacBride called at 3.30 on the Saturday afternoon. “We had a frank talk during which he told me that his people would accept me and would not accept any of the others whose names I suggested. I pressed Dan Morrissey very strongly but to no avail. He left shortly after five with my refusal but asking me to reconsider it.” It is curious that this encounter was not mentioned anywhere else by either of the two men. The only other source which mentions it (briefly) is Patrick Lynch’s “Pages from a Memoir”, which is based in part on the letter to Declan.21 Given that the letter was written within a fortnight of the events described, it seems highly unlikely to be incorrect. Perhaps with the passage of time, all concerned were anxious to downplay MacBride’s role in putting the Government together.

  However, Costello was not MacBride’s first choice as a Fine Gael alternative to Mulcahy. According to his own account, the Clann leader suggested Sir John Esmonde, who he described as “then one of the leaders of Fine Gael”.22 MacBride appears to have been the only person who considered the Wexford baronet a leading figure in the party—his name was immediately ruled out by the Fine Gael negotiators, who, according to MacBride’s memoirs, then suggested Costello’s name. The Clann leader readily agreed, as he “had great respect for him; he was businesslike and capable. He had not really been much involved in bitter civil war politics.”23

  Curiously, MacBride continued to hold Esmonde in high regard, telling Costello’s secretary, Patrick Lynch, over dinner in October 1949 that he was thinking of having Esmonde replace him as Minister for External Affairs, so that he could take up a new Department of National Development. The conversation was reported to Costello, who evidently didn’t take it too seriously.24

  In any event, on the evening of Saturday 14 February Costello went to meet his Fine Gael colleagues in Mulcahy’s house, Lissenfield, in Rathmines. He came under “intense pressure, having been at the outset informed that I was the only one to whom Labour and Clann na Poblachta would agree”. Among those at the meeting were Mulcahy, Morrissey, McGilligan, O’Higgins and MacEoin, all about to become ministers, Liam Cosgrave, Gerard Sweetman and Liam Burke, the General Secretary of Fine Gael. Burke provided the only light relief for Costello, as he “emotionally likened the situation to the unanimous election of a Pope”! The putative pontiff did his best to claim his “complete unfitness for the job”, but was overruled by his colleagues.25

  MacEoin later recalled that persuading Costello to accept the responsibility presented “the greatest difficulty … He resisted for a long time and he said amongst other things that his practice at the Bar was of a high order and that his emoluments and briefs brought him in a high salary, that he had responsibilities to himself, his wife and family and that it was unreasonable to ask him to accept the great responsibilities at a much lower salary. This was waved aside by his colleagues who felt that he must make the sacrifice for the sake of the country.” His plea for more time to consider his position was rejected, as “it was felt that if he got time he might refuse so he was pressed to give provisional assent”.26

  Costello finally found himself with little option but to agree—he was particularly moved by the appeal from Dr Tom O’Higgins, who had lost his father and brother to Republican violence. As he wrote to Declan, “I had to realise what a tremendous tribute it was to me and how my friends and colleagues looked to me to complete for them what they had all worked so hard and sacrific
ed so much to bring about.” Having given his provisional agreement, he went home to Herbert Park to break the news to his family. Bizarrely, he told his wife, Ida, that his new job would be less stressful than his existing career as a barrister. “I said that it would mean less night work and worry.”

  Then yet another meeting later that evening in the Mansion House. All the parties to be involved in the Inter-party Government were represented, except National Labour. James Dillon was there too, as the representative of a group of six Independents who had agreed to support the government (the others were Alfie Byrne and his son Alfred Byrne junior, Patrick Cogan, Charles Fagan and Oliver J. Flanagan). Costello was faced with his future Cabinet, chosen without reference to him. He again tried to argue his unsuitability for the job, as well as his financial worries. But his potential coalition partners dismissed his concerns. “William Norton said that they were wasting their time unless I agreed as his group would have nobody but me. Seán MacBride said the same …” He asked to be given until Monday to think about it—they gave him until eight o’clock the following day, Sunday. “They then proceeded with the discussions of plans based on the assumption of my acceptance. They allotted ministers and settled procedures. I intervened from time to time as if I were forming the cabinet always with guarded references—‘If I do accept’. It was close on midnight when I got home and I didn’t sleep much that night.”

  What were the concerns playing on Costello’s mind that night, and the next day as he played golf and consulted Cox and the others? One aspect was financial—he was making a very good living at the Bar, and he still had a family to support. Only Grace had left the family home at this stage, Declan was receiving presumably expensive treatment in Switzerland, and Wilfrid’s care would have to be paid for indefinitely. He also had a fairly elaborate domestic staff, with a cook, two maids and a gardener.27 Critics have pointed to his evident reluctance to make financial sacrifices—Eithne MacDermott, for instance, referring to the “whinging note” he adopted on this issue.28

  But while money was certainly an issue, it seems to have been more of an excuse than a deciding factor. As he wrote to his son some days later, “I think I can honestly say that it was not the financial loss or even the parting from my life’s work as an advocate … that made me fight so hard against acceptance but a fear amounting almost to terror that I would be a flop as Taoiseach and bring discredit on the new administration if it was formed. I felt that such a new departure would be looked upon with distrust and be subjected to severe criticism. If I proved unfit it would be disastrous for them all.”

  After receiving Cox’s unwelcome advice, he finally told Mulcahy on Sunday evening that he would accept, and went to another meeting in the Mansion House with his future Cabinet. “The meeting was quite informal—sitting around the fire as I refused to take the chair or have any formality.” Of course, while the alternative government now had a Taoiseach, it did not yet have a majority, and Costello spent the next three days hoping that something would prevent it getting one.

  There had been little difficulty in reaching agreement on policy. Seán MacBride laid down three conditions for the Clann’s participation—the planting of a minimum of 25,000 acres of trees a year; the provision of money from the Hospitals Trust to build hospitals and sanatoria; and improvements in old-age pensions and health benefits. He later claimed there were “visible signs of relief” around the table when he didn’t insist on constitutional change, such as the repeal of the External Relations Act. “I did mention in private conversation with them afterwards that I would naturally be very glad to see the External Relations Act repealed, but I realised that I hadn’t got a mandate for that … All the other things I had asked for were things that they had campaigned for as well, and therefore it was reasonable to ask for them …”29

  The parties agreed a 10-point programme of policy points on which they agreed: increased agricultural and industrial production; a housing drive; a reduction in the cost of living; taxation of “unreasonable” profits; a comprehensive social security plan; the removal of the Supplementary Budget taxes on tobacco, beer and cinema tickets; facilities for TB patients; the establishment of a Council of Education; a National Drainage Plan; and modifications to the means test for old age, widows’ and blind pensions.30

  Costello, meanwhile, “immersed” himself in his legal work, including “a difficult licensing case which in fact proved to be my last” in the Circuit Court on the Monday. But that evening, as he drove through the gates of Leinster House, he received “the shock of my life” when Michael Donnellan of Clann na Talmhan stopped his car. “He nearly pulled the arm off me and addressed me as ‘our Taoiseach’ telling me that he knew for certain that the five National Labour were voting for us.” (If MacEoin’s account of his previous negotiations with National Labour is accurate, it seems strange that he didn’t prepare Costello for this shock.)

  His colleagues having confirmed the news, he met the five National Labour TDS, led by Jim Everett. “I spoke plainly. I told them I didn’t want the post and that if there was agreement it had to be absolute agreement, no formulas designed to cover but not get rid of difficulties.” The only concrete point raised by National Labour concerned the right of representation at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, from which the Irish Transport & General Workers’ Union had been excluded. Costello said he couldn’t make any promises, except that if a government was formed, he “would see that their party got a square deal”.31 Such was Costello’s reputation that this was enough for Everett and his colleagues, who resisted heavy pressure from their party executive to support Fianna Fáil and announced they would back a change of government.

  Bonfire celebrations greeted him in Donnybrook that night—the following afternoon he received “a tremendous ovation” from the first meeting of the new Fine Gael parliamentary party. Characteristically, he pointed to Mulcahy and said, “There is the man you should be applauding, not me.” He had to address his constituency supporters again that night, who he said were as enthusiastic as he was depressed. Fianna Fáil too were depressed—they had fully expected National Labour to vote for de Valera, as the party’s executive had instructed. Seán Lemass recalled that “up to the night before the Dáil met we did not realise there was going to be a majority against us. Even then, we did not believe it was going to last very long because it was such a makeshift sort of government.”32

  On Wednesday morning, after Mass in the Pro-Cathedral to mark the new Dáil term, Costello had his “first experience of the battery of cameras which pursued me for days after. I went down to court after Mass still trying to convince myself that something would happen to prevent the inevitable.” After lunch in the Stephen’s Green Club with Ida, Grace and Alexis, he went down to Leinster House with his son-in-law. With a change of government on the cards after 16 years, there was intense public interest. “The Chamber itself was packed to capacity and a big crowd filled Kildare Street some hours before the Dáil sat.”33

  The incoming Taoiseach, meanwhile, “was feeling like nothing on earth. I had the feeling that the whole thing was a fantasy.” He was nominated by Mulcahy, who praised him “for the character and ability that has pointed him out so clearly to a number of groups in the House and in the country as the man to hold together and to bind that spirit and to lead it to achievement”—a handsome tribute given that Mulcahy had been passed over by those same groups. He added that Costello “by making sacrifices of various kinds … is stepping in to encourage men of various parties to sit down together and face whatever difficulty arises, politically, socially or economically in Ireland these days”. His nomination was seconded by Norton, who said Labour was willing to give inter-party government a trial, and “to give to our people something of the fullness and sweetness of life which inter-party government has given democratic people in other countries with which this country is comparable”.

  MacBride accepted that his party had not received a mandate to repeal the
External Relations Act “and such other measures as are inconsistent with our status as an independent republic. These, therefore, have to remain in abeyance for the time being.” He added that Costello was “a man of honour, of integrity and of ability, well fitted to fill the high position for which he has been proposed”. Dillon said Costello was “a decent man and he comes of decent people”. He added that he was “more optimistic” than MacBride about achieving his objectives—on the basis that Ireland would soon be called upon to “take her place with those nations who seek to defend the liberty of the world from the greatest threat that has ever challenged it … In accepting that invitation, we may see a sovereign, independent and United Ireland delivered from the nauseating frauds of a dictionary republic sooner than we anticipate.”34

  De Valera was defeated by 75 votes to 70, and then Costello’s nomination was approved by 75 to 68. Two independents who supported de Valera—Thomas Burke, the Clare bone-setter, and Ben Maguire of Sligo-Leitrim—did not vote against Costello. He was supported by five parties (Fine Gael, Labour, Clann na Poblachta, Clann na Talmhan and National Labour), as well as eight Independents—the six put together by Dillon as well as Patrick O’Reilly and William Sheldon. When the result was announced, Oliver J. Flanagan called out, “Thanks be to God that I have lived to see this day,” and was rebuked by the Ceann Comhairle. Costello confided to his son that this annoyed him, as he was about to speak and he felt the Ceann Comhairle was motivated by his dislike of Flanagan. The new Taoiseach’s acceptance speech was made off the cuff—he admitted that he “couldn’t bring myself to think of it” beforehand, another indication of his deep reluctance to accept the inevitable.35