Opinion: I would love to blame Dev for all of the problems Ireland suffered in the last century, but it's not as simple as that
By Liz Gillis, Historian
If my dad wanted to wind me up and watch me go on a rant, all he had to say to me was "de Valera was a lovely man" and I'd be off. I fell for it every time. I remember we were attending a funeral in Whitefriar Street, and as we were walking through the main entrance, my dad told me to bless myself. I did so without looking and without hesitation (I thought I was passing a painting of St Anthony, or some other saint). My dad burst out laughing, which I thought was strange until I looked up at the picture. To my horror, St Anthony was not looking down on me, it was Dev. My father had timed it perfectly. My face was priceless, I could have sunk a thousand ships in that moment.
I have, like so many people in Ireland, very strong feelings about Éamon de Valera. Back when I was younger, I saw him as the ultimate villain in Irish history. And I know where that opinion came from. Not from my dad, but from the film Michael Collins. I was so young and naïve, but that film was so exciting, a big Hollywood blockbuster about the Irish Revolution. I got caught up in the hype. I was so anti-Dev because of that film: he had killed Michael Collins.
However, when I really got serious about Irish history, my dad would again say his famous sentence, but ask me why I felt like that. It couldn’t be just because of a film. As he would always say, "if you’re going to argue a point you better be able to back it up with facts, do your research, stand over what you say." He would challenge me, and God knows he bought me enough books so I could, indeed, research.
I have been researching the Irish Revolution for nearly 30 years, and de Valera has been the one figure I feel most conflicted with. It was when I was working in Kilmainham Gaol that I really began to look at him properly: having to speak about him twice on tour, at least four times a day, and seeing the reaction from people when I would point out his cells, especially Americans who had seen the film, was like holding a mirror up to me. It was the start of a journey which has been uncomfortable at times.
I suppose the easiest way for me to explain it is to discuss some of the assumptions I had about De Valera.
For example – the burning of the Custom House in May 1921. The general narrative is, it was Dev's idea, it was a total failure, the Dublin Brigade of the IRA was wiped out, the census records were destroyed. I spent 10 years researching that operation, I wrote a book about it with Micheal Ó Doibhilin and none of the above was true. The custom house was always in the sights of the IRA, the census records had been destroyed during World War 1 due to paper shortages, and the Dublin Brigade of the IRA was not wiped out. The 2nd battalion was the main group affected but there were four other battalions in Dublin who carried on the fight. And had Michael Collins not insisted that the supporting units be close to the building, they could have delayed the military from entering the city. One point to Dev.
Read more: All you need to know about the 1921 burning of the Custom House
The big one though for me, the one I really struggled with, had to be de Valera and the women of Ireland, in particular the 1937 Constitution. He had put women in the home. However, again doing research, I discovered he was one of many. The place of women in the new Ireland was long dictated before de Valera came to power in 1932. That journey had started way back in 1924 with the Cumann na nGaedhal government. In particular Kevin O’Higgins, with the marriage bar in 1924, which was only meant to apply to the civil service, but the private sector jumped on board. That was followed by the Juries Act in 1927, which removed women from juries (one reason being given was that there weren’t toilet facilities for women in the courts).
Now de Valera and his government certainly completed the task at hand, firstly with the Conditions of Employment Bill in 1936, where the industries that women could work in were greatly reduced. The writing was on the wall and culminated with Articles 41.2.1 and 42.2.2 of the 1937 Constitution, placing women in the home. Half a point to Dev. As it turns out, the new Ireland was a very conservative country from the outset, with very clear views on where women stood.
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From RTÉ Brainstorm, How did the marriage bar affect Irish women?
Another example – de Valera and the Church and how they controlled every aspect of life in Ireland. Again, I discovered he was one in a long line of very conservative men who had very close ties with the church. But the Church was dictating people’s lives long before de Valera came to power. However, I’m not going to give hime a point for that.
It's almost like from 1922 to 1932, the walls of the house were built by the Cumann na nGaedhal government. When de Valera came to power, he put the roof on the house and made it watertight. Ireland was their castle and nothing was going to destroy it.
Read more: How a public kiss in De Valera's Ireland caused a global sensation
Now these are just some examples, and there are many more examples of bad decisions that de Valera made and was solely responsible for – not accepting the Treaty, the economic war with Britain, but even then again it’s not as black and white. His alternative to the Treaty – document no 2, which he explained by way of a Venn diagram, was later adopted by the British when dealing with Indian independence – that a colony of the empire could be a republic, yet have the British monarch as the head of Commonwealth but not of the country.
I suppose what I am trying to say, is that de Valera to me, is one of the most frustrating historical figures. I would love to blame him for all of the problems Ireland suffered in the last century, but it’s not as simple as that. He is responsible for many of them, but not all.
I recently sat down and read David McCullough's two books on de Valera and they did challenge me to look at de Valera, to really look at him. I don’t have to like him, but I understand him a bit more, and if I’m doing my job as a historian correctly, I can’t ignore the facts.
I’m still not a fan of de Valera, i certainly won’t be blessing myself under another picture of him, but his legacy to me can be summed up in one word - complicated.
Liz Gillis is a historian and author who specialises in the Irish revolution. This essay was delivered by Gillis at Dublin Castle in July 2025 as part of the production of Dev: Rise and Rule, which will be broadcast on RTE One and RTÉ Player tonight at 9.35pm.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
