Cormac Breathnach
{{Short description|Irish politician and teacher (1885–1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Cormac Breathnach 1933 (cropped).png
| caption = Breathnach in 1933
| office = Teachta Dála
| term_start = July 1937
| term_end = May 1954
| constituency = Dublin North-West
| term_start1 = February 1932
| term_end1 = July 1937
| constituency1 = Dublin North
| office2 = Lord Mayor of Dublin
| term_start2 = 1949
| term_end2 = 1950
| predecessor2 = John Breen
| successor2 = Jack Belton
| nationality = Irish
| party = Fianna Fáil
| otherparty = National Labour Party
| birth_name = Charlie Walsh
| birth_date = {{birth-date|1885}}
| birth_place = County Kerry, Ireland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1956|5|29|1885|df=y}}
| death_place = Dublin, Ireland
| education =
| alma_mater = Marlborough Training College, Dublin
| spouse = Kathleen Ryan
Bríd Prendergast
| children = 2
}}
Cormac Breathnach (1885 – 29 May 1956) was an Irish politician and primary school teacher.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Cormac-Breathnach.D.1932-03-09/|title=Cormac Breathnach|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=2 July 2012|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107145521/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Cormac-Breathnach.D.1932-03-09|url-status=live}}
Early life
He was born in Iveragh, County Kerry in 1885,{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/breathnach-cormac-charlie-walsh-a0911|title=Breathnach, Cormac|last=Murphy|first=Angela|work=Dictionary of Irish Biography|access-date=21 September 2022}} and was known in his younger years as Charlie Walsh. He was the son of Seán Breathnach, a farmer, and Cáit Breathnach (née Chonchubhair). He was educated at the local national school in Ballinakilla, County Kerry (where he was a monitor), and qualified as a national school teacher from the Marlborough Training College in Dublin.
Teaching
Prior to entering politics, Breathnach was a teacher. A fluent Irish speaker, for a period he was engaged by Conradh na Gaeilge to teach the Irish language and history in a number of national schools. Breathnach was also president of Conradh na Gaeilge from 1926 until 1928.{{cite web|title=The Gaelic League in the Irish Free State in the 1920s & 1930s|url=http://www.theirishstory.com/2012/08/02/the-gaelic-league-in-the-irish-free-state-in-the-1920s-and-1930s/#.VmPU4P-hemQ|work=The Irish Story|date=2 August 2012|access-date=24 September 2021|archive-date=5 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905102815/https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/08/02/the-gaelic-league-in-the-irish-free-state-in-the-1920s-and-1930s/#.VmPU4P-hemQ|url-status=live}} His teaching influenced some of his pupils that later figured prominently in the Irish War of Independence, including Dan Breen, Seán Treacy, Seán Hogan, and Dinny Lacey.
In his autobiography, Breen noted: "He did not confine his history lesson to the official textbook. He gave us the naked facts about the English conquest of Ireland and the manner in which our country was held in bondage. We learned about the Penal Laws, the systematic ruining of Irish trade, and the elimination of our native language. He told us also of the ruthless manner in which Irish rebellions had been crushed. By the time we had passed from his class, we were no longer content to grow up 'happy English children' as envisaged by the Board of Education".My fight for Irish freedom, Dan Breen, Anvil Books 1981, page 9.
During these years he became an active member of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and was unanimously elected its president in 1920, and again in 1932. In 1922 he played an important part in preparing the way for the introduction of Irish as a compulsory subject in national schools.
Politics
In 1926 he helped establish the Fianna Fáil party and was a member, and later chairman, of its national executive. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1932 general election.{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1761|title=Cormac Breathnach|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=2 July 2012|archive-date=28 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728181659/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=1761|url-status=live}} From 1932 to 1937 he served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North constituency. In 1937 he moved to the Dublin North-West constituency and served there until 1954. He did not contest the 1954 general election.
Breathnach served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1949 to 1950.{{cite web|url=https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/2020-09/lord-mayors-of-dublin-1665-2021.pdf|title=Lord Mayors of Dublin 1665–2020 |work=Dublin City Council|date=June 2020|access-date=18 November 2023}}
Personal life
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{s-bef|before = John Breen}}
{{s-ttl|title = Lord Mayor of Dublin
|years = 1949–1950}}
{{s-aft|after = Jack Belton}}
{{s-end}}
{{Conradh na Gaeilge}}
{{Dublin North (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{Dublin North-West (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breathnach, Cormac}}
Category:Conradh na Gaeilge presidents
Category:Members of the 7th Dáil
Category:Members of the 8th Dáil
Category:Members of the 9th Dáil
Category:Members of the 10th Dáil
Category:Members of the 11th Dáil
Category:Members of the 12th Dáil
Category:Members of the 13th Dáil
Category:Members of the 14th Dáil