Irish Fianna Fáil politician (1884–1963)
Patrick John Little (17 June 1884 – 16 May 1963) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. A founder-member of the party, he served in a number of cabinet positions, most notably as the country's longest-serving Minister for Posts and Telegraphs.
Early life.
Born in Dundrum, County Dublin, Little was the son of Philip Francis Little and Mary Jane Holdright. Both his parents were Canadian natives, while his father had served as the first Premier of Newfoundland before settling in Ireland. Here he became involved in the Irish Home Rule Movement.
Little was educated at Clongowes Wood College, before later attending University College Dublin. Here he studied law and qualified as a solicitor in 1914.
Revolutionary years.
Little was engaged in the independence struggle from an early stage. Following the Easter Rising in 1916, he formed, together with Stephen O'Mara, the Irish Nation League, who while being opposed to the Irish Parliamentary Party and supportive of abstentionism, were wary of the militarism of the Irish Volunteers. In 1918 the Volunteers, the Irish Nation League, and the Liberty Clubs, followers of George Noble Plunkett, agreed to merge under the Sinn Féin banner with Éamon de Valera as President to fight the 1918 general election on an abstentionist platform.
Little contested the constituency of Dublin Rathmines but lost to Unionist Maurice Dockrell, the only Unionist elected in the area that would become Irish Free State outside of Dublin University. He remained in the background of Sinn Féin for the next number of years. In 1921 he was sent to South Africa to represent the government of the Irish Republic. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and fought with the Four Courts Garrison during the Civil War.
He became the first editor of "An Phoblacht" in 1925. He also edited other republican newspapers including "New Ireland", "Éire" and "Sinn Féin".
Political career.
Little joined Fianna Fáil shortly after its foundation in 1926. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for the Waterford constituency at the June 1927 general election. He represented the constituency until 1954.
Little was appointed Government Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for External Affairs in 1933. Little was appointed Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in 1939 and remained in this office until 1948, when Fianna Fáil failed to form a government. He was not reappointed to the cabinet when Fianna Fáil returned to office in 1951. In 1952, following the death of Bridget Redmond, Fianna Fáil won the resulting by-election and held three out of four seats in the constituency. This would have been unsustainable at the next general election so Little did not contest the 1954 general election.
Retirement.
He was the first chairman of the Arts Council from 1951 until 1956. He was responsible for the development of the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra. In 1957 he was appointed to the Council of State by Seán T. O'Kelly. He was re-appointed to the Council by Éamon de Valera in 1959.
Little died in May 1963. He is a grand-uncle of Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe.
References.
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