Séamus Ryan

Séamus Ryan (2 December 1893 – 30 June 1933) was a member of the Seanad Éireann from 1931 to 1933 representing the Fianna Fáil party.

Early life He was born at the family farm in the townland of Deerpark in the County Tipperary Parish of Kilfeacle in 1895 and attended Bansha National School. Early in his life he had been a supporter of the moderate Irish nationalist John Redmond, but family links made him increasingly sympathetic and committed to the Irish republican cause. Ryan married Agnes Harding from Solohead, County Tipperary, in 1918. In that year they also opened a shop in Parnell Street, Dublin. It was the first of 33 outlets for the company they named The Monument Creameries after the famous monument to the Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell located near their shop.

During the Irish War of Independence the shop was a haven for members of the Irish Republican Army seeking refuge from British "Black and Tans" and later for Republicans during the post-Treaty conflicts. Among the Irish nationalists harboured within his Parnell Street shop was Seán Treacy who established a workshop where he put false bottoms on butter boxes to conceal dispatches and ammunition for IRA operations. Ryan transported the boxes by horse and cart to Kingsbridge Station. It was said he had "a face of such truly angelic innocence that no one could have guessed the subversive nature of his freight". In 1927, he gathered an impressive twelve thousand pounds towards the establishment of The Irish Press a new national newspaper sponsored by Éamon de Valera that appeared for the first time in September 1931.

Other interests He was a student of the Irish language and a patron of Irish artists. He was a patron of the South Kildare Beekeepers Association and a Member of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Family Séamus and Agnes Ryan had eight children and many have made significant contributions to the arts and public life. Kathleen Ryan was an international motion picture actress who starred with James Mason in the Odd Man Out and other films. Cora Ryan attempted unsuccessfully in 1969 to enter the Dáil in a by-election caused by the death of her husband Seán Dunne TD. John Ryan was an accomplished painter who inaugurated the literary magazine Envoy, A Review of Literature and Art and was one of the instigators of the Bloomsday commemoration of the work of Irish writer James Joyce. Patrick Ryan joined the Royal Air Force before returning to Dublin to manage the Monument Creameries. Their third daughter Máire Ryan married a RAF officer. Oonagh Ryan married a Russian Prince Alexis Guedroitz and their daughter Princess Ania Guédroïtz is a Belgian actress. Their youngest son, Séamus Ryan became Dom Vincent, a Benedictine Monk at Glenstal Abbey, Limerick. The youngest, Íde Ni Riain became a nun at the Mount Anville Convent in Dublin.