James Geoghegan

James Geoghegan (8 December 1886 – 27 March 1951) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, barrister and judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1936 to 1950, Attorney General of Ireland from November 1936 to December 1936 and Minister for Justice from 1932 to 1933. He also served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Longford–Westmeath constituency from 1930 to 1936.

Early life Geoghegan was born in Walshestown, County Westmeath, the son of Thomas Geoghegan, a farmer, and his wife Bridget (née Carney). He was educated at CBS Mullingar.

Career Geoghegan was admitted as a solicitor at the age of 21 and practised in County Cavan and County Monaghan. Relinquishing the solicitor side of the profession, he was called to the Bar of Ireland on 1 November 1915 and to the Bar of England in 1923. He practised successfully as junior counsel before becoming a senior counsel in 1925.

Geoghegan had been a pro-Treaty Redmondite and had joined Cumann na nGaedheal in the early 1920s. He came into contact with Fianna Fáil when he was among those advising Éamon de Valera on the payment of land annuities, and in 1930, he joined that party. He was elected to Dáil Éireann in a by-election on 13 June 1930 as a Fianna Fáil TD for Longford–Westmeath. When Fianna Fáil took office in March 1932, he was appointed Minister for Justice. This was a sensitive post, coming in the first change of government since the Civil War. As well as being fitted by his legal expertise, the choice of Geoghegan, with his Cumann na nGaedheal background, offered the opposition reassurance as to de Valera's intentions. The historian Dónall Ó Drisceoil has suggested that Geoghegan's position as a Knight of Saint Columbanus was why he gave into Catholic Church pressure to deport the "communist" Gralton. serving for less than two months. In his brief tenure, he assisted the government in the preparation and enactment of the External Relations Act on 12 December 1936, before being appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on 22 December 1936, vacating his seat in the Dáil. Geoghegan remained on the bench of the Supreme Court until his retirement due to ill health in April 1950. His son, Hugh Geoghegan enjoyed the distinction in 2000 of being the first appointee to Ireland's Supreme Court to follow in his father's footsteps.

Later life and death Geoghegan had suffered ill health for several years before his retirement. He died in Portobello House, Dublin on 27 March 1951.