Murphy and O’Sullivan: The Bitterest of Political Rivals
‘Murphy and O’Sullivan’ – it sounds a bit like a firm of Irish builders or an old-style public house in an Irish town back in the early twentieth century. In this case, though, it refers to two men from the Killarney area who were the bitterest of political rivals and whose clashes occurred not only on the hustings at both national and local elections, but also in the courts on a number of occasions. With its origins just a few years before the establishment of Dáil Éireann, theirs was a mutual antagonism almost without parallel in that parliament. It reached its peak when a petition was launched to unseat the successful candidate in the Westminster election for the constituency of East Kerry in 1910, despite John Murphy and Eugene O’Sullivan being members of the same party. They did, however, represent different approaches and attitudes to politics and their careers contribute to the body of evidence that contradicts the commonly held view that there had been no significant ideological differences between Fianna Fáil and Cumann na nGaedheal (later Fine Gael) and that the Civil War alone was the point of fracture at which their paths diverged.
After the foundation of the state, Murphy became active in Fianna Fáil, whereas O’Sullivan, despite maintaining his position as an Independent, was embedded in the Cumann na nGaedheal community. O’Sullivan was a cousin of Professor John Marcus O’Sullivan (the son of Michael, a brother of Tim O’Sullivan, who was elected to parliament for the East Kerry constituency in the general election of August 1910) and Dr Billy ‘Gogo’ O’Sullivan, who won his seat in Seanad Éireann and became the leader of Fine Gael in the chamber. Professor O’Sullivan served as Minister of Education from 1926 to 1932. There was another man named John Marcus O’Sullivan involved in politics in this period – Eugene’s brother – who was elected to Kerry Council in 1926 and 1928. The Cumann na nGaedheal party did not contest local elections as a party, but members stood as Independents, ratepayers or farmers.
John Murphy was the elder by five or six years and he was the first into the political field. He stood unopposed for the East Kerry seat in parliament in 1900, as a representative of the Irish Parliamentary Party. A member of the Transport Union for many years, the bulk of Murphy’s contributions to debates in Westminster were devoted to instances of Kerry people being evicted from their lands. In 1907, he was instrumental in the re-instatement of Dan O’Shea to his farm at Cleeney, Killarney, from which he had been evicted in 1887 by Lord Kenmare. Murphy was co-opted to both Kerry County and Killarney Urban councils in the opening years of the twentieth century. He replaced Thomas Kearney (deceased) for the Scartaglin Electoral Division to the county council early in 1901 and was then selected to replace Michael O’Sullivan, the Emporium owner – and Eugene O’Sullivan’s employer – on Killarney Urban District Council, following the businessman’s death on Christmas Eve of 1902. So it seems that Murphy had the support of the O’Sullivan family at this time. He did not contest the Urban Council election in 1905 and he had no further involvement in politics for some time. Murphy was returned from the Killarney Electoral Division to Kerry County Council in the election of 1902, beating Maurice Leonard, who would, ironically, be declared disqualified from holding his seat on Killarney Urban Council in 1909. He was re-elected to the county council for Killarney in 1905 and again in 1908, unopposed in his candidacy on both occasions, but he did not contest the division in June 1911 when J.T. O’Connor (of whom more follows) took the seat, defeating James Maher-Loughnan and another candidate.
In the meantime, Eugene O’Sullivan had left his home in Firies to work in the drapery owned by a family cousin, Michael O’Sullivan of the Emporium on Main Street. Eugene was a talented footballer too, captaining Dr Croke’s to the Kerry County Championship in 1901 and winning a Munster Championship title with Kerry in 1902. From an early stage, he demonstrated a gift for leadership. He would later become part of the Kerry County Board, the Munster Council and Central Council, take the chair of his GAA club and the Fitzgerald Memorial Committee, which was responsible for the development of the football ground in Killarney. He was also a skilful snooker player and a tough rowing competitor, as well as a strong orator, a particularly beneficial talent in that age, when mass rallies and marching bands were essential ingredients of election campaigns.
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Paddy MacMonagle, the local historian, believed that while Eugene O’Sullivan did support John Murphy initially in politics, the pair fell out somewhat abruptly. This became apparent in 1905 when Murphy, then an MP, instituted a libel action against Quinnell & Sons, the publishers of the Kerry News, in relation to a letter signed by Eugene O’Sullivan alleging that funds collected on behalf of the United Irish Party (the constituency organisation of the Irish Parliamentary Party) had not been promptly transferred to the treasurer. While the piece did not name Murphy, the jury at the Four Courts in Dublin agreed that it was clear that he was the person referred to and entered a decision that a libel had been committed. However, it also held that there had been no malice on the part of the publishers and damages of one farthing, the very minimum figure, were awarded to Murphy.1 During the proceedings, the plaintiff stated that O’Sullivan had turned against him because he had used his casting vote in favour of another candidate, over O’Sullivan, when the position of clerk at the Killarney Asylum was being filled. This was just the opening skirmish in a series of many.
The next general election was set for 27 March 1906. The convention to nominate the candidate to represent the Irish Parliamentary Party in East Kerry took place on 8 January at Killarney Town Hall. It was a fractious meeting, with Murphy and O’Sullivan claiming that branches and individuals had not been accredited; it broke up in confusion after Murphy and his supporters marched out. A second convention also ended without any decision being arrived at. At the end of January, the party leader John Redmond sent a telegram declaring that, as the two conventions had ‘failed through irregularities and disorder’ to select a candidate, the party ‘must decline to further interfere in the present election’, demonstrating a certain amount of frustration with the two warring factions.2 The row must have been a considerable embarrassment for John Redmond as John Murphy served as Redmond’s secretary for a period. However, whichever candidate was elected would presumably support the Irish Party in parliament in any event. Both men contested the election and commenced extensive canvasses of the constituency. When the result of the election was declared, Murphy had polled 2,185 and O’Sullivan 2,131, giving the incumbent the seat by the close margin of fifty-four votes. The scene was already set for the dramatic rematch.
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Five years later, in 1911, Eugene O’Sullivan won his seat on Killarney Urban District Council after the outgoing member, Tim O’Sullivan – Michael’s son – decided not to put his name forward. At the first meeting the following week, O’Sullivan was nominated to take the position of chairman by Councillor Charlie Foley, the New Street publican, and seconded by James O’Shea. John Hilliard was also nominated. O’Sullivan won by 6–5, but Hilliard declared that O’Sullivan was a disqualified individual, for reasons that will be explained later. O’Sullivan certainly had a way of locating political enemies. John Hilliard was the head of a family that owned substantial businesses in Killarney and Tralee. A member of the Church of Ireland community, he also bred Kerry cattle on the extensive Hilliard lands, but despite the pre-eminence of the family name in Killarney, he never succeeded in being elected (legitimately) as chairman of the town council.
John Maher-Loughnan, the proprietor of the Royal Victoria Hotel, whom O’Sullivan replaced as chairman after a three-year spell, was another firm and constant opponent. He had also declined the opportunity to run for re-election in 1911, but he and O’Sullivan would have several encounters in courtrooms over property issues in the coming years. The Loughnan family had developed the hotel on the Kenmare Estate in the nineteenth century and the first telephone exchange in Killarney was located at the hotel in 1907, before transferring to New Street. However, the Maher-Loughnans were regarded as being fond of the good things in life and in October 1915, John was obliged to seek the protection of the Court of Bankruptcy. He obtained his discharges in July 1916, but he had to put the three farms up for auction in order to re-establish the hotel business. By October 1918, Lord Kenmare was seeking possession of the hotel premises over non-payment of rent.
In April 1920, the Master of the Rolls granted Eugene O’Sullivan the authority to