My Country Living: a life in politics

Brigid Hogan-O’Higgins was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1957 for Fine Gael at the age of 24 – one of four women elected that year. She spent 20 years as a TD. Her father, Patrick Hogan, was Minister for Agriculture from 1922-1932, while her husband, Michael, was also a TD – as were his father, uncle and brother. She married in 1958, one year after her first election to the Dáil. They were the first married couple ever to sit in the same Dáil. Michael passed away in 2005 and Brigid now lives with her daughter Maeve on the family farm in Kilrickle, Co Galway.

Background

“My father died when I was very young, I was only four. My mother was from Dublin, she met my father when he was in college in UCD. He served as the Minister for Agriculture from 1922 to 1932 during the foundation of the State for Cumann na nGaedheal.

“My grandfather, Michael Hogan, came from Co Clare. He was a farmer and an inspector for the Congested Districts Board and they moved to my grandmother’s home place here in Clonmain after they married in 1886.”

My father

“My father became a solicitor I think in 1914 and then took over the management of the farm. He loved farming. His famous slogan as a farmer and as a minister was, ‘You should keep one more cow, one more sow and one more acre under the plough’.

“He wasn’t involved in politics to a great extent to begin with. My uncles James and Michael were heavily involved in the War of Independence. The Black and Tans were ordered to do a wide sweep during the conflict and arrest any young married men that were educated. My father was arrested and was interned in Ballykinlar where Dr Tom O’Higgins was. That would be Michael’s father, my father-in-law.

“My father became very active in politics at the time of the treaty. He was in college with Kevin O’Higgins and Desmond Fitzgerald, that’s Garret’s father. He was a good public speaker and shone in the Treaty debates. One night, my father, Paddy McGilligan and Desmond Fitzgerald were smoking on a bit of a flat roof in Leinster House. My father struck a match and held it up to Fitzgerald and a sniper shot the cigarette out of his mouth. That was the end of going up there.

Our neighbours and relations were very good to us after he died

“My father was killed in a car crash in 1936. It was a terrible disaster for us, and my mother’s second time to lose her husband. She first married Michael Davitt, son of Michael Davitt of the Land League. At the time of my father’s death, he was described as the most revolutionary Minister for Agriculture in Europe.

"Our neighbours and relations were very good to us after he died, people like the Brodericks in Kilrickle and the Dolphins of Gurtymadden to name a few, they were just always interested in politics. We had so many loyal supporters, first of my father and later supporters of me when I ran.”

Where it all began

“I began to take an interest in what was going on in the country at four or five years old. My first encounter with politics was in 1943 after the election where Liam Cosgrave was first elected to the Dáil, the future Taoiseach. We got the news on the wireless. I remember it had to be charged every week or so.

I went on to study in an agricultural college, I met one of my best friends there

"I had a little bike and my mother wanted to send a telegram to his father WT to congratulate him. She wrote it out and sent me to the post office, so I got up on my bike and off I went.

“I went on to study in an agricultural college, I met one of my best friends there, Mary was her name. We were bosom friends. I loved farming; my daughter Maeve runs the farm now.”

A life in politics

“When the 1957 election came around, I was asked to stand as a candidate. I wasn’t even 24. I didn’t know what it entailed. We were country children, very much sheltered. The Fine Gael convention was in Gort, and it was packed to the attic. There were people everywhere.

“I was proposed, and there was a vote and I won at a gallop. Everybody rallied around me. It was a tough election.

There was snow on the ground, I remember, and a little baby was crawling around the floor

"We went into one house, into a great big kitchen with a fire on and children everywhere. The lady of the house was embarrassed. She called one of the men that was with me over and said, ‘We haven’t got any milk’.

“There was snow on the ground, I remember, and a little baby was crawling around the floor. I picked up the baby, and sat her on my lap. That was the first time I knew the people were hungry. It was the first time I’d seen real poverty. I said, ‘If ever I’m elected, I’ll do whatever I can to improve the lives of these people’.

“I got elected in 1957 and I knew a couple of the TDs. After the election, the parties had to meet. One TD objected to me being there, but that didn’t stop me. After that it was go, go, go. I got married the following year to Michael. I loved politics and still do.

I love nature. I love the garden, the lambs and the calving time. I love the Hereford cattleI love nature

“I was always very anxious to get people involved politics, into the branches. I still am – it’s so important that young people get involved, everybody should know something about politics. The one thing that we learned growing up was that loyalty was terribly important.

“I love nature. I love the garden, the lambs and the calving time. I love the Hereford cattle. People say that farmers are always complaining, or they ask, ‘Are you a big farmer?’ I’m a farmer, period. And farmers work hard. Politics changed me, I spent 20 years as a TD and I loved every minute of it. Michael was one in a million, there’s no doubt about it. We had nine marvellous children, and now I’ve a flock of beautiful grandchildren, they keep me young.”

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