Piaras Béaslaí (15 February 1881 – 22 June 1965) was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a member of Dáil Éireann and also an Irish author, playwright,
biographer and translator.[1]
Born Pierce Beasley in Liverpool, England, in 1881, and educated at a Jesuit school
in Merseyside, he headed for Ireland at an early age, and helped Richard Mulcahy, Patrick Pearse and other members of the
IRB to infiltrate the Gaelic League, helping to force
out the founder of the League, Douglas Hyde in 1915, the same year that an insurrection was planned for the coming Easter.
The gravestone of Thomas Ashe, Peadar Kearney and Piaras Beaslai at Glasnevin Cemetery.
Beaslaí fought in the Easter Rising of 1916, and the Irish War of Independence. During the Irish War of Independence, he helped facilitate a mass
escape of rebels from gaol in Manchester.
He was a cousin of Lily Merin (or Mernin), one of Michael Collins'
moles in Dublin Castle, who passed much useful information to Collins, and pointed out
undercover targets in the street.[2]
Later Béaslaí became director of publicity for IRA, and at the 1918 general election he was elected to the First Dáil
Éireann as Sinn Féin TD for Kerry East. At the 1921 general
election he was returned to the 2nd Dáil as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Kerry–Limerick
West.
He was re-elected in the 1922 election as a pro-Treaty Sinn Féin candidate.
He did not contest the 1923 election, and in his latter years he
dedicated himself to literature. He wrote a book about his experiences titled Michael Collins and the Making of a New
Ireland (which was published in Dublin in 1926).
He died on June 21, 1965.
He and Con Collins share a distinction in that they contested and were elected in the
three general elections, without a vote being cast in their favour on each occasion.
References
- ^ Coogan, Tim (1991). Michael Collins. Arrow Books, pp. 98-99. ISBN
0-09-968580-9.
- ^ Coogan, p. 83.
External links
This page incorporates information from the Oireachtas Members Database
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