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Nic Dhaibheid

Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid, PhD Student (BA, Cork; MA, Belfast)
cnicdhaibheid01@qub.ac.uk

Thesis:

‘Seán MacBride and Irish Politics’

My research project focuses on the figure of Seán MacBride, former IRA Chief-of-Staff, successful barrister, founder of Clann na Poblachta, and Minister for External Affairs from 1948-1951.  His life-story spans the early history of the Irish state: the revolutionary struggle from 1916-21; the bitterness of the Civil War; the persistence of violent republicanism through the 1920s and 1930s; ideological division within the republican bloc; the IRA link with Germany during the Second World War; MacBride features in all these narratives.  In 1946 he founded a new political party, Clann na Poblachta, intended to provide a republican alternative to Fianna Fáil.  Early electoral success brought the rewards of a cabinet post in the first inter-party government.
 
As Minister for External Affairs, MacBride oversaw one of the busiest periods within Irish foreign policy: the burgeoning of the European integration project; Ireland’s attempts to be included in Marshall Aid; the repeal of the External Relations Act and the departure from the Commonwealth; and the declaration of the Republic of Ireland in September 1948.  MacBride’s stint in government ended in disaster: personal animosity between him and his Cabinet and parliamentary party colleague, Noël Browne, formed a backdrop to the failure of Cabinet and party to support Browne’s Mother and Child Scheme in the face of the dual opposition of the Catholic hierarchy and the Irish Medical Association.  MacBride requested Browne’s resignation; the government collapsed shortly afterwards; and Clann na Poblachta went into rapid and terminal decline.  MacBride retained his Dáil seat in 1954, but failed to secure it again on two attempts in 1957 and 1961.  Thereafter he pursued a career within international humanitarian politics, working for Amnesty International from 1961, and winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 and Lenin Peace Prize in 1976.
 
His legacy in Irish politics is highly controversial, with many viewing with suspicion his apparent reinvention as international humanitarian.  In many respects a shadowy figure within prior to the 1940s, he makes fleeting appearances in a number of disparate accounts of different aspects of Irish political history: for example, surveys of the IRA after 1922, histories of Ireland during the Emergency, and studies of the failure of left-wing republicanism in Ireland.  An integrated study is required in order to fully assess this important but flawed figure.  

Area of research:

My primary research interests concern Irish politics and history, with particular reference to twentieth-century political history.  I am especially interested in representations of the First World War in Irish literature, the politics of the Irish Revolution, and Irish politics and culture during the Second World War.  Other research interests include Irish historiography and European cultural history.

Supervisors:  Professor Richard English and Dr Margaret O’Callaghan