Editing Thomas Derrig

{{Short description|Irish politician (1897–1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Thomas Derrig
| image         = Thomas Derrig 1933 (cropped).png
| caption       = Thomas Derrig in 1933
| office        = [[Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications|Minister for Lands]]
| taoiseach     = [[Éamon de Valera]] 
| term_start    = 13 June 1951
| term_end      = 2 June 1954
| predecessor   = [[Joseph Blowick]]
| successor     = Joseph Blowick
| taoiseach1    = Éamon de Valera
| term_start1   = 8 September 1939
| term_end1     = 2 July 1943
| predecessor1  = [[Gerald Boland]]
| successor1    = [[Seán Moylan]]
| office2       = [[Minister for Education (Ireland)|Minister for Education]]
| taoiseach2    = Éamon de Valera
| term_start2   = 18 June 1940
| term_end2     = 18 February 1948
| predecessor2  = Éamon de Valera
| successor2    = [[Richard Mulcahy]]
| taoiseach3    = Éamon de Valera
| term_start3   = 9 March 1932
| term_end3     = 8 September 1939
| predecessor3  = [[John M. O'Sullivan]]
| successor3    = [[Seán T. O'Kelly]]
| office4       = [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]]
| taoiseach4    = Éamon de Valera
| term_start4   = 8 September 1939
| term_end4     = 27 September 1939
| predecessor4  = [[Oscar Traynor]]
| successor4    = [[Patrick Little]]
| office5       = [[Teachta Dála]]
| term_start5   = [[1948 Irish general election|February 1948]]
| term_end5     = 19 November 1956
| term_start6   = [[June 1927 Irish general election|June 1927]]
| term_end6     = [[1937 Irish general election|July 1937]]
| constituency6 = [[Carlow–Kilkenny (Dáil constituency)|Carlow–Kilkenny]]
| term_start7   = [[1937 Irish general election|July 1937]]
| term_end7     = [[1948 Irish general election|February 1948]]
| constituency7 = [[Kilkenny (Dáil constituency)|Kilkenny]]
| term_start8   = [[1921 Irish elections|May 1921]]
| term_end8     = [[1923 Irish general election|August 1923]]
| constituency8 = [[Mayo North and West (Dáil constituency)|Mayo North and West]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1897|11|26|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Westport, County Mayo|Westport]], [[County Mayo]], Ireland
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1956|11|19|1897|11|26|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Dublin]], Ireland
| nationality   = [[Irish people|Irish]]
| party         = [[Fianna Fáil]]
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Sinéad Derrig|Sinéad Mason]]|1928}}
| children      = 2
| alma_mater    = [[University of Galway|University College Galway]]
| branch        = {{Ubl|[[Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)|Irish Republican Army]]|[[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|Anti-Treaty IRA]]}}
| battles       = {{Ubl|[[Irish War of Independence]]|[[Irish Civil War]]}}
}}
'''Thomas Derrig''' ({{langx|ga|Tomás Ó Deirg}}; 26  November 1897 – 19 November 1956) was an Irish [[Fianna Fáil]] politician who served as [[Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications|Minister for Lands]] from 1939 to 1943 and 1951 to 1954, [[Minister for Education (Ireland)|Minister for Education]] from 1932 to 1939 and 1940 to 1948 and [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]] in September 1939. He served as a [[Teachta Dála]] (TD) from 1921 to 1923 and 1927 to 1957.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Derrig.D.1921-08-16/|title=Thomas Derrig|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=7 January 2008|archive-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108184850/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Derrig.D.1921-08-16|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early life==
Derrig was born on 26 November 1897, in [[Westport, County Mayo|Westport]], [[County Mayo]], the son of Patrick Derrig and Winifred Derrig (née Sammon).<ref name=dib>{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/derrig-thomas-o-deirig-tomas-a2539|title=Derrig, Thomas (Ó Deirig, Tomás)|work=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]|last=Dempsey|first=Pauric J.|access-date=29 January 2022}}</ref> He was educated locally and later at [[University of Galway|University College Galway]]. 

==Revolutionary period== 
During his time in college he organised a corps of the [[Irish Volunteers]]. Derrig did not take part in the 1916 [[Easter Rising]] but was arrested in the aftermath. He was imprisoned in Woking, [[HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs|Wormwood Scrubs]] and [[Frongoch internment camp]]. He was arrested in July 1918, and was accused of attempting to disarm a soldier. He was sentenced to five months imprisonment by a court in [[Belfast]]. When he was released in November 1918, he supported [[Joseph MacBride]] at the [[1918 Irish general election]]. After his release, he graduated from college and became headmaster in a technical college in Mayo.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=719 |title=Ó DEIRG, Tomás (1897–1956) |last1=Breathnach |first1=Diarmuid |last2=Ní Mhurchú |first2=Máire |website=ainm.ie |access-date=5 September 2019 |language=Irish |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203110235/https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=719 |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the [[Irish War of Independence]] he was the Brigade Commandant of the West Mayo Brigade of the [[Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)|Irish Republican Army]], before being captured in January 1921 and interned at the [[Curragh Camp]].<ref>See Derrig's successful application for a military service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. Available online at Military Service (1916–1923) Pensions Collection - http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/search.aspx?formtype=advanced. Reference number MSP34REF8768</ref> While there he was elected a [[Sinn Féin]] [[Teachta Dála|TD]] for [[Mayo North and West (Dáil constituency)|Mayo North and West]].<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1395|title=Thomas Derrig|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=7 July 2009|archive-date=22 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222005720/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=1395|url-status=live}}</ref> During the Truce period, he was appointed Divisional Director of Organisation of 4 Western Division IRA.

Taking the anti-Treaty side in the [[Irish Civil War]], Derrig took part in fighting against National forces in Dublin. He escaped from Dublin on 30 June 1922 and served as Adjutant to [[Ernest O'Malley]] during fighting in counties Wicklow and Wexford in July and August. Derrig was appointed IRA Adjutant General by Liam Lynch in November 1922 and was serving in that position when arrested by National Forces on 6 April 1923.<ref>{{cite book |last=Macardle |first=Dorothy |author-link= |date=1965 |title=The Irish Republic |url= |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |page=844 |isbn=}}</ref> 
On that same date, while in custody of the [[Criminal Investigation Department (Ireland)|Criminal Investigation Department]] in Oriel House, Derrig was shot in the face by a CID detective and lost his left eye. Derrig was interned at [[Kilmainham Gaol]] and was a leader there during the [[1923 Irish hunger strikes]]<ref>Deasy, Liam (1998), ''Brother Against Brother'', Mercier Press, Cork pg 86.</ref> Derrig was later awarded a wound pension under the Army Pensions Act, 1932 for the gunshot wound he received while in custody. Derrig also applied to the Irish government for a service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 and was awarded 7 and 3/8 years service in 1942 at Grade A for his service with the Irish Volunteers and the IRA between 1 April 1917 and 30 September 1923. <ref> Irish Military Archives, Military Service (1916–1923) Pension Collection, Thomas Derrig, MSP34REF8768. Available online at http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/search.aspx?formtype=advanced. </ref>

In 1928, he married [[Sinéad Derrig|Sinéad Mason]] of Ards, [[County Down]]; they had two daughters.<ref name=dib/>

==Political career==
At the [[June 1927 Irish general election|June 1927 general election]] he was elected to [[Dáil Éireann]] as a [[Fianna Fáil]] TD for [[Carlow–Kilkenny (Dáil constituency)|Carlow–Kilkenny]]. In [[Éamon de Valera]]'s first government in 1932 Derrig was appointed [[Minister for Education (Ireland)|Minister for Education]]. Derrig initiated a review of industrial and reformatory schools and the rules under the [[Children Act 1908]] ([[8 Edw. 7]]. c. 67), resulting in the critical 1936 Cussen Report that followed which he shelved, and a report in 1946–1948 by the [[Irish Americans|Irish-American]] priest [[Edward J. Flanagan|Father Edward Flanagan]], which was also shelved. His lack of action was noted in 2009 when the [[Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse|Ryan Report]] examined the subsequent management of these "residential institutions"; Derrig was the first Minister to seek a report that could have resulted in much-needed reforms. It has been suggested that he did not want to follow British law reforms in the 1920s and 1930s, because of his strong anti-British views, and that Irish children had suffered needlessly as a result.<ref>[[Bruce Arnold (author)|Arnold, Bruce]], ''The Irish Gulag'', (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 2009), page 41. {{ISBN|978-0-7171-4614-7}}</ref>

From 1939 to 1943, he served as [[Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications|Minister for Lands]]. He was re-appointed to Education in 1943 until 1948. During this period a bitter teachers' strike, involving the [[Irish National Teachers' Organisation]] (INTO), took place, lasting from 20 March to 30 October. Between 1951 and 1954, he became Minister for Lands again.

Thomas Derrig died in [[Dublin]] on 19 November 1956, seven days before his 59th birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1956-11-21/35/|title=Dáil Éireann debate – Death of Member: Expression of Sympathy|work=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=21 November 1956|access-date=2 January 2023}}</ref> No by-election was held for his seat.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.mayolibrary.ie/en/LocalStudies/MayoPeople/ThomasDerrig/ Obituary], ''Connaught Telegraph'', 24 November 1956 (Mayo County Library)

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{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[John M. O'Sullivan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Minister for Education (Ireland)|Minister for Education]]
       |years  = 1932–1939}}
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{{s-end}}
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[[Category:1897 births]]
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