25 Facts About Eamonn Duggan

Eamonn Sean Duggan was an Irish lawyer and politician who served as Government Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence from 1927 to 1932, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance from 1926 to 1927, Parliamentary Secretary to the Executive Council from 1922 to 1926, Minister without portfolio September 1922 to December 1922 and Minister for Home Affairs January 1922 to September 1922.

Eamonn Duggan served as a Teachta Dala from 1918 to 1933.

Edmund John Duggan was born in Richhill, County Armagh, in 1878, the son of William Duggan, a Royal Irish Constabulary officer, and Margaret Dunne.

Eamonn Duggan's parents had met when his father, a native of County Wicklow, was stationed in Longwood, County Meath, where they married on 19 October 1874.

In 1911, Eamonn Duggan was living with his parents on St Brigid's Road Upper in Drumcondra, Dublin.

Eamonn Duggan was married to Evelyn Kavanagh and together they had one son.

Eamonn Duggan was a cousin of revolutionaries Thomas Burke and Christopher Burke through his mother Margaret Dunne.

In 1916, Eamonn Duggan was part of Commandant Daly and therefore was serving in the North Dublin Union in the days approaching the 1916 Rising and afterwards Father Matthew Hall.

Eamonn Duggan suffered the consequences and was then sentenced to penal servitude which lasted three years.

Eamonn Duggan was interned in Maidstone, Portland and Lewes prisons.

When Eamonn Duggan was released in 1917, he continued his career in law.

Eamonn Duggan was elected to the First Dail Eireann as a Sinn Fein TD for Meath South following the 1918 general election.

Eamonn Duggan engaged in the War of Independence and his role in this was the IRA's Director of Intelligence, this came to an end in November 1920 when he was imprisoned again, and was not released until the Anglo-Irish Truce of July 1921.

Eamonn Duggan signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty at 22 Hans Place, London.

Eamonn Duggan retained numerous ministerial posts in the Cumann na nGaedheal government.

In 1921, Eamonn Duggan played a role in the Irish delegation throughout the Anglo-Irish discussions, he then played a dominant role in liaising with British officials.

Eamonn Duggan continued in various roles as a TD until 1933.

Until 1933, Eamonn Duggan was a Cumann na nGaedheal TD for Meath.

In 1933, Eamonn Duggan declined to go forward for the general election but was elected to Seanad in April 1933.

Eamonn Duggan was involved in local politics in Dun Laoghaire as the chairman of the borough council until he died in 1936.

Eamonn Duggan wrote papers which reflected on his engagement in the Easter Rising.

Eamonn Duggan wrote about his participation in Sinn Fein and how he was released in 1917, and in 1918, how he was triumphant in being a candidate for the South Meath constituency.

Eamonn Duggan's papers were very personal as they consisted of photographs of him, his family members and his political associates etc.

In one of his letters, which Eamonn Duggan wrote on 25 April 1916, he referenced 'the whole damn family' consisting of information as to how his volunteers and he were being 'treated as princes' by the nuns in the convent nearby, receiving help from the children in the area and building barricades.

Eamonn Duggan died suddenly at his home in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, on 6 June 1936, aged 58, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery on the north side of Dublin.