Former Taoiseach to be commemorated

FORMER Taoiseach John A Costello will be commemorated in Deansgrange Cemetery, Blackrock on Sunday, June 19.

The commemoration will be delivered at his graveside at 2pm by David McCullagh, RTÉ journalist and author of ‘The Reluctant Taoiseach: A Biography of John A Costello’.

John A Costello, a successful barrister, was one of the first legal advisors to the newly formed Irish Free State, and served as Attorney General to WT Cosgrave from 1926 to 1932.

He was Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957, and was responsible for declaring Ireland a Republic in 1948.

John A Costello was born in June 1891, in Dublin, the younger son of John Costello senior, a civil servant, and Rose Callaghan.

He was educated from 1903 at St Joseph’s Christian Brothers School in Fairview.

He moved to the O’Connell School for senior classes, and then attended University College Dublin and graduated with a degree in modern languages and law. He studied at King’s Inns to become a barrister and practised as a barrister until 1922.

The Costello Government had a number of noteworthy achievements. A new record was set in house-building, the Industrial Development Authority was established, and an advance in the treatment of tuberculosis was overseen.

In 1959, Costello retired to the backbenches. He remained on as a TD until 1969 when he retired from politics, being succeeded by Garret FitzGerald as Fine Gael TD forDublin South-East. He practised at the bar up to a short time before his death in Dublin on January 5, 1976, at the age of 84.