T. V. Honan Explained

Office:Senator
Term Start:21 April 1948
Term End:14 August 1951
Constituency:Industrial and Commercial Panel
Term Start1:14 August 1951
Term End1:22 July 1954
Term Start2:27 April 1938
Term End2:21 April 1948
Constituency2:Nominated by the Taoiseach
Office3:Senator
Term Start3:12 December 1934
Term End3:29 May 1936
Birth Name:Thomas Vincent Honan
Birth Date:20 October 1878
Birth Place:County Clare, Ireland
Death Place:Waterford, Ireland
Party:Fianna Fáil
Children:Dermot Honan
Relatives:Tras Honan (daughter-in-law)

Thomas Vincent Honan[1] (20 October 1878 – 21 October 1954), known as T. V. Honan, was a Sinn Féin activist and later a Fianna Fáil politician in Ireland who served as a senator for 20 years.[2]

He was a shopkeeper who owned a licensed premises in O'Connell Square in Ennis. He was a friend of Éamon de Valera and chaired the gathering at O'Connell Square Ennis in his election campaign (1917), introducing de Valera.[3] His home and premises were shelled and burned by irregular British Army Troops in 1921.[4]

He was elected in 1934 to Seanad Éireann (nominated by de Valera), for the standard nine-year term which applied under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, but his term was cut short when the Free State Seanad was abolished in May 1936. However, the Seanad was re-established under the new Constitution of Ireland which was adopted in 1937, he was nominated by the Taoiseach in 1938 to the 2nd Seanad,[5] and remained in the Senate until he stood down at the 1954 election. For the 6th Seanad from 1948 to 1951, he was elected by the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

His son Dermot was a senator from 1965 to 1973, and Dermot's widow Tras was a senator from 1977 to 1992. She was twice elected as Cathaoirleach.[6]

He died in 1954 and de Valera came to Ennis to lead the funeral procession.[7]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: In Committee on Finance. - Clare Castle Pier Bill, 1933—Second Stage. – Dáil Éireann (8th Dáil) – Tuesday, 27 Jun 1933 – Tithe an Oireachtais.
  2. Web site: Thomas Honan. Oireachtas Members Database. 6 February 2008.
  3. https://talktojoe.blogspot.com/p/clare-history.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20211230014133/https://talktojoe.blogspot.com/p/clare-history.html
  4. https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/archives/McMahon_Archival_Collection.pdf, McMahon Archival Collection, Clarelibrary (Web Archive)
  5. The 2nd Seanad Éireann was actually the first Seanad elected under the 1937 constitution. This is because the Free State Seanad was considered to be in continuous session, since its members were elected for a period of nine years (reduced in 1928 from the original 12 years), with elections every three years for a those senators whose terms had expired. The Free State Seanad is therefore collectively known as the First Seanad.
  6. Web site: Tras Honan . Oireachtas Members Database . 6 February 2008.
  7. Cuímhneamh an Chláir, Eoin Mc Inerney Interview, https://www.clarememories.ie/archive/170/eoin-mcinerney.html(Archive)