Seán Francis Lemass (15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and
third Taoiseach
of Ireland from 1959 until 1966.
A veteran of the 1916
Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil
War, Lemass was first elected as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South constituency
in a by-election on 18 November 1924 and was
re-elected at each election until his retirement in 1969. He was a
founder-member of Fianna Fáil
in 1926, and served as Minister for
Industry and Commerce, Minister for Supplies, and Tánaiste
in successive Fianna Fáil
governments.
Lemass is remembered for his tireless work to
develop Irish industry
and for forging new links between the Republic and Northern
Ireland
in the 1960s. He is regarded by many in Fianna Fáil (and indeed by Fine Gael
Taoisigh Garret FitzGerald and John Bruton) as the finest
Taoiseach in the history of the Irish state and as "the architect of
modern Ireland."