Richard Mulcahy

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Richard James Mulcahy (10 May 1886 – 16 December 1971) was an Irish general and politician who played a major role in Ireland’s fight for independence and in its early government.

Born in Waterford, Mulcahy joined the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He helped lead the Easter Rising of 1916 and, after being imprisoned, returned to lead the Dublin Volunteer troops. From 1919 to 1922 he was chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army and helped direct the War of Independence against British forces. In January 1922 he raised the Irish tricolour at the first handover of a British barracks to the new National Army.

Mulcahy supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and became Defence Minister in the Provisional Government. After Michael Collins’s death, he led the National Army in the Civil War. His order that anti-Treaty fighters captured with weapons could be executed drew heavy criticism and remains a controversial part of his legacy.

In the new Free State, Mulcahy served as Minister for Defence (briefly in 1919 and again 1922–1924) and as Minister for Local Government and Public Health (1927–1932). He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) in 1918 for Dublin North, later for Dublin North-West and Dublin North-East, and represented various constituencies over the years. He also sat in the Seanad (Senate) during a couple of short periods.

In 1944 Mulcahy became leader of Fine Gael and led the party for many years. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1944 to 1948 and remained party leader until 1959. After the 1948 election, he helped form a coalition government but did not become Taoiseach; John A. Costello became prime minister. Mulcahy served as Minister for Education from 1948 to 1951 and again from 1954 to 1957, and briefly as Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1956.

Mulcahy married Min Ryan in 1920 and had six children, including notable figures such as Neillí Mulcahy. He studied at University College Dublin. He died in Dublin in 1971, aged 85, and is buried in Littleton, County Tipperary.