Cathal O'Shannon

Cathal O'Shannon (1893 – 4 October 1969) was an Irish politician, trade unionist and journalist.

Born in Randalstown, Co. Antrim, he was educated at St. Columb's College, Derry. He became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was involved in Conradh na Gaeilge, writing articles for the "Peasant", "Sinn Féin" and "An Claidheamh Soluis" publications. He worked as a clerk in the Belfast office of the Heysham Steamship Company. In 1913, he was one of the founders of Irish Volunteers in Belfast. He was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Ireland, led by James Connolly and at whose request he joined the staff of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in Belfast.

On Easter Sunday 1916, he mobilised with a hundred Volunteers at Coalisland, Co. Tyrone; they dispersed when there were no orders from Dublin. He was later arrested by the British authorities who interned him until the General Amnesty of 1917. He was arrested during the German Plot and went on a hunger strike. Embarking on a hunger strike, he was released seventeen days later.

In 1921 O'Shannon was expelled from the Socialist Party of Ireland, along with other older members such as William O'Brien, by the new party leader Roddy Connolly for their opposition to the transformation of the party into a component of the Comintern. O'Shannon subsequently joined the Irish Labour Party.

A serving member of the Irish Republican Army in 1920/1921, he supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and was elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1922 General Election as a Labour Party TD for Louth-Meath. He failed to be re-elected for the Meath constituency in the 1923 and September 1927 general elections. He remained a prominent figure in Labour, however, and edited "The Voice of Labour" and "The Watchword" from 1930-32.

In 1941 he became Secretary of the Irish Trade Union Congress, and afterwards of the Congress of Irish Unions. He served for twenty-three years, until his death, as one of the workers' representatives when the Labour Court was established in 1946.

He died in Dublin in 1969. His son Cathal O'Shannon is a veteran Irish broadcaster and journalist.

External reference

* [http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/biogsO.htm Dictionary of Ulster Biography]
* [http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=1378 Profile on ElectionsIreland.org]