Matt Gallagher

Matt Gallagher (15 February 1915 – 7 January 1974) was an Irish property developer and businessman who founded the Gallagher Group.

Early life and family Matt Gallagher was born in Cashel, Curry parish, County Sligo on 15 February 1915. His parents were Matthew, a farmer, and his wife Margaret Gallagher (née Reilly). He had 13 siblings. Gallagher was educated at Moylough national school, while also working on the family farm. He played Gaelic football, and was on part of the Curry team that won the 1930 Sligo minor championship, leading to him being selected for the Sligo minors. He left for England in summer 1932, following a road works contract which yielded him just £17 profit.

Life in England Gallagher began work in England as a farm labourer in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, later working on building sites, which led to him moving around the country. He mostly sent his salary back to his family in Cashel, and visited every couple of years. His younger brother eventually came with him to England. In early 1939 Gallagher pooled his savings with his brothers Joe, Dan, Hubert, and James, to put a down payment on two trucks. They used these to transport materials that were used to build factories, runways and raid shelters for the British World War II preparations. At first they worked out of Liverpool, but when the air raids on British cities began in 1940, they moved to a shale pit in Lancashire which they leased. They also commenced hauling landfill to bombsites. On one occasion, Gallagher continued to work on a site during and air raid, only leaving when the planes were overhead. This inspired his brother James to say that he was "the king of our family and the king of Ireland as far as I'm concerned". The brothers grew their fleet to 10 trucks, which resulted in them securing an 18-month government contract to transport farm labourers.

Gallagher's access to large funds allowed him to exploit a huge shift in Irish government housing policy in the early 1960s. Fianna Fáil oversaw a new policy which aimed to ease the housing crisis by incentivising private property development and promoting home ownership. In 1964 Gallagher announced he would provide new housing stock to those previously unable to afford their own homes, using the new 1963 planning legislation which facilitated a small number of well connected developers in cornering the housing market. Gallagher bought up undeveloped sites and successfully arranged for rezoning to residential, resulting in him becoming the wealthiest residential property developer in Dublin. Gallagher in turn fed back funds to Fianna Fáil as a donor through Taca, the Fianna Fáil fund-raising organisation he helped found in 1966. Taca gave businessmen direct access to leading party members for a large annual subscription. Gallagher was one of Taca's largest donor, and was involved in its administration.

He built 169 houses for free for a number of business associate and politicians, including Traynor and Neil Blaney. Blaney oversaw the exclusion of land owned by Gallagher from a Dublin Corporation compulsory purchase order in 1964. Gallagher then built 800 homes on the land, and sold them at market value to the Corporation. The head of planning at Dublin Corporation, George Redmond, later admitted to advising Gallagher on his applications, and from the mid 1960s, received annual payments of between £10,000 to £15,000 from Gallagher and his brothers. Redmond's salary at the time was £10,000, and Gallagher also built his home and paid for family holidays.

In 1969, he purchased land and a Victorian house from Haughey, called Grangemore, for £204,000 in north County Dublin, having convinced Haughey to purchase the house and 45-acre site in 1959 for £13,000. The sale of this enabled Haughey to purchase Abbeville house and its 250 acres for £144,997 in 1969. Haughey also purchased a stud farm in County Meath. During the 1969 general election, this transaction became a major issue, and Gallagher was mentioned numerous times in Dáil debates. However, the criticism was successfully deflected. He later supported Haughey financially and with company cars following his expulsion from office in 1970. His second son, Patrick, succeeded him as head of the Gallagher Group.