Lorcan Robbins

{{Short description|Irish politician (1884–1939)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=December 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lorcan Robbins

| image =

| nationality = Irish

| office = Teachta Dála

| term_start = May 1921

| term_end = June 1922

| constituency = Longford–Westmeath

| birth_date = {{birth date|1884|5|16|df=y}}

| birth_place = Moate, County Westmeath, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1939|1|9|1884|5|16|df=y}}

| death_place = County Westmeath, Ireland

| party = Sinn Féin

| alma_mater =

| education =

| spouse =

| children =

}}

Lorcan Robbins{{cite web|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Historical_Information/History_of_Government/Second_D%C3%A1il.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111235523/http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Historical_Information/History_of_Government/Second_D%C3%A1il.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 November 2012|title=Second Dáil|work=History of Government|publisher=Department of Taoiseach|access-date=20 August 2012}} (also called Laurence and/or Robins) (born 16 May 1884 – 9 January 1939){{cite web |title=Residents of a house in Tullaghnageeragh (Moate, Westmeath)|url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Westmeath/Moate/Tullaghnageeragh/1775369/|work=Census of Ireland 1901|publisher=National Archives of Ireland|access-date=4 September 2010}} was an Irish Sinn Féin activist and politician. He was the son of Laurence Dalton Robins, a farmer from Tullaghnageeragh near Moate in County Westmeath, who worked undercover for Sinn Féin under the alias "Richard Dalton".{{cite book|last=Cox|first=Liam |oclc=499737544 |title=Moate, Co. Westmeath, A History of the Town and District |page=178|year=1981|location=Athlone}}

When the First Dáil established the separatist Irish Republic in 1919, the younger Robbins worked in the Dáil government's Department of Finance. He was nominated as a Sinn Féin candidate in the Longford–Westmeath constituency at the 1921 general election. Arthur Griffith suggested that, if elected, he be excused attendance at the Dáil in order to continue working for the Department of Finance; Michael Collins overruled Griffith.{{cite book|last=Fanning|first=Ronan|title=The Irish Department of Finance, 1922–58|date=June 1978|publisher=Institute of Public Administration|isbn=978-0-902173-82-8|page=28}} Robbins and the other Sinn Féin candidates were returned unopposed as TDs to the Second Dáil.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=6801|title=Laurence Robbins|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=13 April 2009}}

On 7 January 1922, he voted in favour of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.T.192201070002.html |title=Debate on Treaty |date=7 January 1922 |work=Dáil Éireann debates — Volume 3 |access-date=4 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607070232/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.T.192201070002.html |archivedate=7 June 2011 }} On 11 January he was appointed Assistant Minister for Local Government in the post-Treaty Dáil government,{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Laurence-Robbins.D.1921-08-16/|title=Laurence Robbins|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=13 April 2009}} although this appointment was never ratified by the Dáil. He lost his Dáil seat at the 1922 general election,{{cite web|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1922&cons=166|title=Longford Westmeath First Preference Votes|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=4 September 2010}} although he remained an Assistant Minister until the Dáil government was merged with the Provisional Government in September.