Thomas Walsh (Irish politician)

{{Short description|Irish politician (1901–1956)}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image =

| office = Minister for Agriculture

| taoiseach = Éamon de Valera

| term_start = 13 June 1951

| term_end = 2 June 1954

| predecessor = James Dillon

| successor = James Dillon

| office1 = Teachta Dála

| term_start1 = February 1948

| term_end1 = 14 July 1956

| constituency1 = Carlow–Kilkenny

| office2 = Senator

| term_start2 = 8 September 1943

| term_end2 = 18 August 1944

| constituency2 = Agricultural Panel

| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|12|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kilkenny, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1956|8|14|1901|12|8|df=y}}

| death_place = County Kilkenny, Ireland

| nationality = Irish

| party = Fianna Fáil

| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Lyster|1922}}

| children = 3

| education = {{ubl|Patrician Brothers College|Rockwell College}}

| alma_mater = {{ubl|Mountbellew Agricultural College|Pallaskenry Agricultural College}}

|}}

Thomas Walsh (8 December 1901 – 14 July 1956) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Agriculture from 1951 to 1954. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency from 1948 to 1956. He also served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 1943 to 1944.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Walsh.S.1943-09-08/|title=Thomas Walsh|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=6 January 2011|archive-date=2018-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107225109/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Walsh.S.1943-09-08|url-status=live}}

He was born in Gowran, County Kilkenny, one of two sons and one daughter of James Walsh, a farmer, and Catherine Walsh (née Byrne). After early education at Patrician Brothers College, Mountrath, and Rockwell College, Cashel, County Tipperary, he attended Mountbellew Agricultural College, County Galway, on scholarship. In 1921 he was among the first students enrolled in the newly opened Pallaskenry Agricultural College, Pallaskenry, County Limerick. Raids on the college by the Black and Tans aroused in him strong nationalist sentiments.{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/walsh-thomas-a8899|title=Walsh, Thomas|work=Dictionary of Irish Biography|last=White|first=Lawrence William|access-date=12 December 2022}}

Walsh first stood for election at the 1943 general election for the Kilkenny constituency but was not successful.{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=2072|title=Thomas Walsh|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=6 January 2011|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330205431/https://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=2072|url-status=live}} He was subsequently elected to Seanad Éireann as a senator for the Agricultural Panel and served until 1944. He was again an unsuccessful candidate at the 1944 general election but was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1948 general election as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency.

In 1951, he joined the cabinet of Éamon de Valera as Minister for Agriculture. Walsh died suddenly in 1956 in a road traffic accident, while still a member of the Dáil. The subsequent by-election was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Martin Medlar.