Seamus Fitzgerald Descriptive List (Ref. PR6)

greatest personal achievements was his securing of Verolme Industries (Dockyard) for Cork. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Cork Airport, a facility he saw as vital for Munster development. His ability and commitment were recognised also on a national level and he was appointed as a Director to the boards of Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta. However he devoted most of his energies to his native Cobh and the greater Cork area. Content & Structure

Scope & Content

The personal papers of Seamus Fitzgerald. Section 1 'Early Political Affiliation' contains material relevant to Fitzgerald's activities as a member both of The Irish Volunteers and of Sinn Fein. The Volunteer material is divided into contemporary items and later recollections. Preserved here are letters to Fitzgerald received during his 1916 internment in Frongoch camp and an especially poignant group from Fitzgerald home to his mother. Letters from fellow internees also survive. Amongst the later material subsection VIII contains requests from ex-Volunteers for Fitzgerald to vouchsafe their recollections for pension purposes. Gathered also by Fitzgerald are copies of statements given by friends of his to the military historian, Flor O'Donoghue. Fitzgerald had himself planned to write a memoir of those events but it never came to fruition. His research is however preserved here. Section 1, Subsection C (Sinn Fein) details Fitzgerald's early political activity which saw him elected to the Second Dail in 192. Preserved here also is a testimonial from Michael Collins, then Minister for Finance, paying tribute to Fitzgerald's energy and determination. Sinn Fein electoral material and items relating to the parties organisation, including the Sinn Fein Courts are also contained here. Fitzgerald, a committed Republican, was interned again from 1923 to 1924 this time by the Free State Government. Material relating to this and to the general treatment of Republican Prisoners is described in subsections VI and VII. Section 2, Later Political Affiliation , records Seamus Fitzgerald's 50 year commitment to the Fianna Fáil party. He was instrumental in the early organisation of Republicans and the establishment of Fianna Fail in Cork and was to remain for decades one of it's main motivators. The documents preserved record his involvement with the party from 1926, his spearheading of the 1934 reorganisation in Cork, and his participation in party affairs including elections until his death in 1972. Fitzgerald, himself, stood for election five times in the Cork City and Cork East constituencies, being elected twice for short terms. As did other politicians Fitzgerald spent a lot of time dealing with the problems, complaints and requests of constituents. Preserved in Section 2 V is a unique body of correspondence resulting from the voluminous demands made by post on Fitzgerald's time and energy. Pleas for help with job applications, pension rights, discrimination, imagined and on-imagine wrongs, intercessions with government bodies all received an answer. Fitzgerald investigated each case and made detailed inquiries before lending his support or his name. He grouped these letters and his copy replies together in massive files, in some cases keeping replies from Government Departments separate as evidence of his huge postload. The requests did not end with Fitzgerald's terms in the Dail, but as he was known as a man of

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