Kevin Christopher O’Higgins

Kevin Christopher O’Higgins (born June 7, 1892, Stradbally, County Leix (now County Laoighis), Ire.—died July 10, 1927, Booterstown, County Dublin) was an Irish statesman who attempted severe repression of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the aftermath of the Irish civil war (1922–23). A man of intellectual power, he was described (by William Butler Yeats) as “a great man in his pride confronting murderous men.” O’Higgins was in fact murdered by maverick republicans while on his way to church.

Educated at University College Dublin, O’Higgins was apprenticed to his uncle, a lawyer. Following the Easter Rising in 1916, he joined the Sinn Féin (“We Ourselves” or “Ourselves Alone”) nationalist movement and was imprisoned. In 1918, while still in jail, he was elected to Parliament from County Leix, and in the next year he became assistant to the minister of local government, William Thomas Cosgrave.

O’Higgins supported the treaty (Dec. 6, 1921) with Great Britain that created the Irish Free State. In 1922 he was appointed minister for home affairs (retitled justice in 1924) and vice president of the Executive Council (cabinet). He helped to draft the Irish Free State constitution and secured its passage through Dáil Éireann (lower house of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament). Working for a united Ireland within the British Commonwealth, he played an important part in the Imperial Conference of 1926. He also prominently represented the Free State in the League of Nations.

As minister for justice, O’Higgins organized an unarmed police force known as the Civic Guard and took summary measures to restore order following the civil war between the Free State forces and the IRA. His part in the execution of 77 republicans in 1922–23 made him many enemies, as did his sardonic wit, his inflammatory speeches during the civil war, and his curtailment of the liquor trade.