1. Francis Charles MacDermot was an Irish barrister, soldier, politician and historian who served as Senator from 1937 to 1943, after being nominated by the Taoiseach.
19 Facts About Frank MacDermot
1. 2.
Frank MacDermot served as a Teachta Dala for the Roscommon constituency from 1932 to 1937.
3.
Frank MacDermot was born in Dublin, the seventh and youngest son of Hugh Hyacinth O'Rorke Frank MacDermot, Prince of Coolavin.
4.
Frank MacDermot was educated at Downside School and the University of Oxford and qualified as a barrister.
5.
Frank MacDermot was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps during World War I and ended the war as a Major.
6.
Frank MacDermot later emigrated to the United States and became a banker in New York City from 1919 until 1927.
7.
Frank MacDermot returned to Ireland in the late 1920s, and stood unsuccessfully as the Nationalist candidate for Belfast West at the 1929 United Kingdom general election.
8.
Frank MacDermot was elected to Dail Eireann at the 1932 general election as an Independent TD for Roscommon.
9.
The party was short-lived; Frank MacDermot led the National Centre Party to merge with Cumann na nGaedheal and the Blueshirts to form Fine Gael that same year, and became a vice-president of the new party.
10.
Frank MacDermot was a persistent critic of Fianna Fail and Eamon de Valera.
11.
Frank MacDermot criticised the abolition of the oath of allegiance, the abolition of the Free State Seanad Eireann, the abolition of the Governor-General and the introduction of the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, arguing each time that these actions would make partition more secure, and arguing the need for rapprochement with the government of Northern Ireland and the wider unionist community.
12.
Frank MacDermot continually stated that partition could only be addressed when Dublin-London relationships were normalised.
13.
Frank MacDermot had led the National Centre Party into Fine Gael on the pretense that members of the Irish Republican Army were breaking up meetings of Cumann na nGaedheal and other right-wing parties in support of the Republican Fianna Fail, and that in order to survive the National Centre Party would have to band together with both Cumann na nGaedheal and Eoin O'Duffy's Blueshirts.
14.
In 1937, de Valera moved to introduce a new constitution of Ireland, and Frank MacDermot was especially active in the debates over its contents.
15.
Frank MacDermot objected to the recognition of Irish as the first official language of the state and to the suggestion that the Roman Catholic Church should be given a 'special position' in the constitution.
16.
Frank MacDermot supported direct elections to the Seanad and argued that citizens of Northern Ireland should be allowed to participate in the referendum on the constitution.
17.
Frank MacDermot argued that each Dail constituency should be at least five seats.
18.
Frank MacDermot had had personal differences with his Fine Gael colleagues on issues such as the degree of emphasis to be given to Ireland's membership of the Commonwealth.
19.
Frank MacDermot subsequently became the US and Paris correspondent for The Irish Times newspaper.