James Lennon

James Lennon (also Séamus Lennon; 26 August 1880 – 13 August 1958) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician who sat in the First Dáil. He would later become the founder of the far-right Irish Monetary Reform Association, a political organisation that obtained some strength in the midlands. Lennon's control of the organisation would be usurped by the young Oliver Flanagan, who eventually took control of the organisation from him.

Early life Lennon was born in Cournellan, Borris, County Carlow.

Career He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin MP for the Carlow constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though Lennon did not attend as he was in prison.

He again elected unopposed for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 1921 elections. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it. He stood unsuccessfully as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin candidate at the 1922 general election. Following this Lennon was arrested, tried and sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the robbery of a bank at Bagenalstown, County Carlow.

Still considering himself an Irish Republican in 1927, Lennon did not endorse Fianna Fáil in either of the two general elections that year as he believed they had reneged on certain core Republican principles. Nevertheless, Lennon offered them tacit support during the 1932 general election. Lennon and the IMRA sought to promote a fusion of Social Credit ideas with fundamentalist Catholicism and fascistic corporatism. When Alfred O'Rahilly became aware of Lennon's support of his ideas, O'Rahilly quickly distanced himself from Lennon and his extremist rhetoric.

In 1947, he named in the Irish Press as the Irish Monetary Reform Association nominee for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 1948 general election for the party. However, he did not contest the election. A party colleague, William Milner, ran in the neighbouring Laois–Offaly constituency. By 1948 the IRMA had become utterly split between Lennon and Flanagan when Flanagan sought to support candidates from Clann na Talmhan for the Seanad. Lennon and the IMRA "National Executive" claimed it was previously agreed that the IMRA would not support any candidates for the Seanad and that Flanaghan was now in breach of their constitution and should be expelled. Although Flanaghan was indeed expelled for his actions, the bulk of the membership sided with Flanagan, and walked with him into a new, separate organisation called the "Irish Monetary Reform Party". With Flanagan and his supporters continuing to enjoy political success, the original IMRA withered and died away.