James Ryan and the Development of Independent Ireland, 1872-1970

Few figures in 20th-century Ireland remained at the centre of Irish public life as long as James Ryan. First coming to prominence during the Easter Rising, he, alongside his wife, Ma iri n Cregan, continued to play an active part in the struggle for independence that followed. A strident republican, he was on the losing side in the Civil War, but out of this defeat, he emerged as a founder of Fianna Fa il and one of E amon de Valera's most trusted lieutenants. As one of the longest-serving ministers in the state's history, he presided over momentous periods of crisis and change in Ireland. As Minister for Agriculture, he steered the pillar of the Irish economy through the turbulence of the 1930s and 1940s. He later became the first minister in the newly established Depts of Health & Social Welfare, implementing substantial legislative reforms in the face of powerful vested interests. Finally, upon his appointment as Minister for Finance in 1957, Ryan worked closely with Sea n Lemass to lift Ireland out of its economic malaise. When James Ryan finally retired in 1969, then Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, observed that Ryan's life ' could well provide material for an absorbing & exciting book".