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Conn Ward | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary Secretary | |
| 1932–1946 | Local Government and Public Health |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office September 1927 – February 1948 | |
| Constituency | Monaghan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Constantine Ward (1891-02-12)12 February 1891 Donaghmoyne,County Monaghan, Ireland |
| Died | 15 December 1966(1966-12-15) (aged 75) Dublin, Ireland |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
| Spouse | Sheila Ward |
| Children | 6 |
| Education | Patrician Brothers' School,Carrickmacross |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Battles/wars | |
Francis Constantine Ward (12 February 1891 – 15 December 1966) was an IrishFianna Fáil politician and medical doctor.[1]
He was born inCounty Monaghan on 12 February 1891 in Corlygorm, Donaghmoyne,County Monaghan, son of Patrick Ward, a farmer, and Elizabeth Ruddin. He was educated at the Patrician Brothers' schools, Carrickmacross, and studied medicine atUniversity College Dublin (UCD). While a student at UCD he was a founder-member of theIrish Volunteers at the Dublin Rotunda meeting on 25 November 1913. He qualified as a doctor in 1914, and was medical officer inScotstown, County Monaghan from 1915 to 1919, andDundalk,County Louth from 1919 to 1920. He was selected to contest the1918 general election forSinn Féin inMonaghan North, but stood aside in favour ofErnest Blythe, who won the seat.[2]
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He fought with theIrish Republican Army (IRA) in his native county in theIrish War of Independence and on theRepublican side in theIrish Civil War, having opposed theAnglo-Irish Treaty. A senior officer in the IRA, by the July 1921 truce he held the rank of colonel-commandant.
He was a founder member of Fianna Fáil.[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate at theJune 1927 general election, but was first elected toDáil Éireann at theSeptember 1927 general election for theMonaghan constituency and was re-elected at each subsequent general election until his retirement in 1948.[3] After Fianna Fáil's victory at the1932 general election he was appointedParliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health. He retained this junior ministerial rank through the 1930s and into the 1940s.
He served under successive ministersSeán T. O'Kelly andSeán MacEntee, and was delegated ever-increasing responsibility for health and public assistance. During the 1930s he concentrated resources on overhaul and extension of the hospital system. He utilised funds made available to the department from the hospitals sweepstakes, he authorised construction of twenty-four county and district hospitals and fourteen specialist hospitals. He established an advisory hospitals commission and unified friendly societies into a single national health insurance society. During this time he was effectively theMinister for Health.[2] Frequently consulting with catholic church authorities (notably Dublin archbishopJohn Charles McQuaid) over medical matters, at whose behest he banned sale of the newly marketed sanitary tampons in 1944, out of concerns regarding the sexual arousal of girls at an impressionable age.[2]
That same year he earned controversy for the government. He was poised to become the state's first health minister in view of announced government intentions to establish a separateDepartment of Health, but Ward fell victim to the state's first political scandal involving allegations of personal impropriety.[2] He owned a bacon factory business in Monaghan. After the manager was dismissed, the manager's brotherPatrick MacCarvill, a formerTeachta Dála (TD) for Monaghan, and a close friend of TaoiseachÉamon de Valera, sent a list of allegations about Ward to de Valera. An inquiry was set up andthe Tribunal reported a month later. Ward was cleared of all charges excepttax evasion on payments he received from the business. De Valera insisted he resign and he did so a week later. Ward was embittered at the failure of Fianna Fáil colleagues to rally to his support and never again attendedLeinster House and did not contest the 1948 general election (in which MacCarvill stood unsuccessfully in Monaghan forClann na Poblachta). The Ward scandal contributed to the undermining of public confidence in the Fianna Fáil government and its 1948 electoral defeat. The substance of the 1945 health bill, purged of its more draconian features, was incorporated into the 1947 public health act, the basis of the 1951Mother and Child Scheme crisis when ministerNoël Browne sought to implement its relevant provisions.
He retired from politics at the 1948 general election, and resumed his medical practice. He died in Dublin, on 15 December 1966, survived by his wife Sheila, four sons and two daughters.[2]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government and Public Health 1932–1946 | Office abolished |