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National Centre Party | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Frank MacDermot |
| Founded | 15 September 1932 |
| Dissolved | 1933 |
| Merged into | Fine Gael |
| Ideology | Agrarianism Conservatism Christian democracy |
| Political position | Centre-right |
TheNational Centre Party, initially known as theNational Farmers and Ratepayers League, was a short-lived political party in theIrish Free State. It was founded on 15 September 1932 in theMansion House, Dublin,[1] with the support of several sittingTDs, including the threeFarmers' Party members and thirteenIndependents, all of whom feared for their political future if they did not coordinate in a common organisation. Prominent among the latter were party leaderFrank MacDermot, a TD forRoscommon since thegeneral election of February 1932, andJames Dillon, a TD forDonegal, who was the son ofJohn Dillon, the last leader of theIrish Parliamentary Party.
The party's policies included the establishment of a central bank (at this time, the Free State was still part of thesterling area, and theBank of Ireland served as lender to the government),deflation through pay cuts,protectionism, an end to theAnglo-Irish Trade War and the removal ofrates on agricultural land. The party was strongly opposed toFianna Fáil, despite apparent similarities of policy, perhaps because most National Centre Party deputies represented rural constituencies. Fianna Fáil, with its strength among small farmers and increasing popularity among the rural middle-class, was the most obvious threat to a rural-based party at this time.
In the1933 general election, the new party won eleven seats. During this election, the party's opponents in Fianna Fáil disrupted National Centre Party meetings, often with the assistance of the prohibitedIrish Republican Army. These incidents contributed to the rise of theArmy Comrades Association (more commonly known as theBlueshirts), which was formed to protect the establishment conservative parties from the perceived threat of political violence. Fianna Fáil formed amajority government after the election. During the first Fianna Fáil government, the National Centre Party aligned with the largest opposition party,Cumann na nGaedheal, on almost all issues of political or economic importance. However, Frank MacDermot rejected a suggestion that the two parties should merge.
The opposition parties united in mutual self-defence when the government banned the Army Comrades Association in August 1933. The two parties and the ACA merged to formFine Gael in September, just eleven months after the formation of the National Centre Party. Included in the six National Centre Party members of the first Fine Gael National Executive were FB Barton, P Baxter and EJ Cussen.
Although MacDermot became a vice-president of Fine Gael at its foundation, he differed from most of his party colleagues on issues such as the degree of emphasis to be given to Ireland's membership of theBritish Commonwealth. He ultimately resigned from the party, to sit as an independent.
| Election | Seats won | ± | Position | First Pref votes | % | Government | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | 11 / 153 |  11 | 3rd | 126,909 | 9.2% | Opposition | Frank MacDermot |
