When Fianna Fail gathers in Galway West this month to celebrate the centenary of the party, they will look back at its evolution and the many personalities who emerged in that century to give them a national prominence.
Attendees at the event in the Galway Bay Hotel on October 18 will hear about the many Oireachtas members and councillors who carried the Fianna Fail flag in Galway West over that timeframe.
This week ten years ago, Bobby Molloy passed away and his political story is as much a story of Fianna Fail as it was Progressive Democrat, the flag under which the respected politician ended his career.
Few political timelines in Galway are as closely connected as those of Gerald Bartley and Bobby Molloy. Between them, they represented Galway in Dáil Éireann across generations, from the revolutionary era and the early decades of the State into the period when Ireland, and Galway in particular, was beginning to change profoundly. Their story is not simply one of two politicians who occupied the same seat. It is also a story about judgement, political succession, loyalty, integrity and the remarkable influence that one generation can have on the next.
Gerald Bartley was born in 1898 and grew up with strong connections to Clifden. His early life belonged to a very different Ireland. He became involved in the revolutionary movement as a young man, serving with the Irish Volunteers and becoming Officer Commanding of the Clifden Company. His activities during the War of Independence eventually led to his arrest in 1922, a court martial and a death sentence that was later commuted. He spent almost two years in the Curragh before his release in 1924.
Democratic politics
Bartley subsequently turned his energies towards democratic politics. He was elected to Galway County Council and later entered Dáil Éireann at the 1932 general election. Over the following decades he rose steadily, serving as Parliamentary Secretary before becoming Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1959 and Minister for Defence in 1961. By the time he was ready to leave politics in 1965, he had represented Galway at national level for more than three decades.
Yet perhaps one of his most consequential political decisions was the one he made privately before announcing his retirement.
Bartley knew that his departure would create intense competition within Fianna Fáil. Indeed, he did not tell even Taoiseach Seán Lemass of his intentions. But he had already made up his mind about the young man he believed should follow him: Bobby Molloy.
Molloy was only 28. He had been President of the UCG Students’ Union and was still a relatively young figure on the Galway political scene. But Bartley clearly recognised something in him.
He began bringing Molloy to clinics and political meetings, introducing him to Fianna Fáil cumann officers throughout Galway West and quietly helping to establish the young candidate’s political credentials.
The eventual convention at An Taibhdhearc was fiercely contested. Molloy faced several experienced and well-connected candidates, including Kevin Blaney, Eamon Corbett, Padraig Joyce and Jim Regan. He was the outsider. Yet he emerged victorious, beginning a political career that would last for almost four decades.
Molloy proved that Bartley’s judgement had been sound. Gerald’s important role in encouraging younger Galway politicians also extended to his nephew and namesake, Gerald Bartley.
He represented Clifden on Galway County Council and also contested the November 1982 General Election.
He also convinced the popular Carna bus conductor, Johnny Geoghegan to run for the Dail in 1954 and he served beside him for 11 years. Bartley was also godfather to Geoghegan’s daughter, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who would later herself become a Cabinet minister and European Commissioner.
Molloy rose rapidly through national politics. Jack Lynch appointed him Parliamentary Secretary at the Department of Education in 1969, and he subsequently became Minister for Local Government and later Minister for Defence.
Progressive
In an Ireland still emerging from a far more conservative social order, Molloy was also remarkably progressive on social questions. In 1976, the Women’s Political Association ranked him among the most progressive members of the Dáil on issues affecting women. He supported divorce, contraception and family-law reform at a time when such positions could be politically hazardous.
But Molloy’s reputation in Galway was built not only in Dublin. It was built in the towns, villages and communities of the constituency.
He had great organisational skills when for instance he persuaded Nicholas O’Connor (1979 ) and Sean O Neachtain (1991 ) to run for the Co Council when the Fianna Fáil organisation was at a low ebb in Connemara. Neither had shown the inclination for public office until Molloy recognised their talent and persuaded them to enter periods of dedicated service.
For many people, that was Bobby Molloy: someone who could make things happen. He also became known for listening. At his funeral, it was recalled that although he was a great talker, he was an even better listener. That quality mattered in a political culture in which personal relationships, constituency work and the ability to carry a local problem into the corridors of power could make an enormous difference.
Galway itself was changing around him. The old Ireland of Church and State was slowly giving way to a more confident, outward-looking city and county. Galway grew in stature, culture and ambition. Its representatives in Dublin were expected to play what was then described as ‘senior hurling’, and Molloy did precisely that. Galway interests became national interests, and decisions taken in Dublin could have a direct bearing on communities from the city to Connemara.
The Spiddal water scheme became one of the defining examples of his delivery. He promised that, if Fianna Fáil returned to power, he would deliver water to Spiddal. The scheme followed, and his determination to secure the necessary arrangements helped cement his standing in West Galway.
Integrity to the end
His eventual departure from Fianna Fáil was therefore a significant loss. Former Galway deputy and Minister Frank Fahey who described Molloy as his mentor, acknowledged that the party had lost a formidable political asset in Galway West. The loss was felt even if, at the time, there was little inclination within the party to acknowledge publicly just how substantial it was.
Most importantly, how he handled his resignation and retirement from national politics. The fact that he took responsibility for an improper phone call to the courts office by a member of his ministerial office staff, which he was not aware of, and resigned as Minister for Housing, as a matter of principle.
Molloy left national politics, describing the contact as a human error of judgement while maintaining that there had been no dishonest intention. It was an extraordinarily difficult way for a long public career to end.
Yet there is another way of looking at that final chapter. The same political career that had been defined by courage, independence and a willingness to take difficult decisions was also marked by the manner in which Molloy accepted responsibility when controversy engulfed him. He did not attempt to cling to office. He resigned on a point of principle and retired from national politics.
That decision deserves to be considered alongside the rest of his career.
Gerald Bartley had chosen Bobby Molloy because, as a young man, he had seen qualities that could serve Galway. For decades afterwards, Molloy repaid that confidence through a political career that helped transform the city and county and ensured that Galway had a strong voice at Cabinet level.
Bartley came from the revolutionary generation; Molloy belonged to the generation that helped modernise Ireland. Their careers were separated by age and circumstance, but joined by an extraordinary political instinct.
Bartley recognised the potential in a young Galway man. Molloy spent the greater part of his life proving that the old politician’s judgement was right.
For Galway, that remains an important legacy.
The Centenary event to celebrate the establishment of Fianna Fáil in 1926 will take place on Sunday October 18 in the Galway Bay Hotel at 2:30pm. Tickets available from John Connolly TD (091 )562846
