Conn Ward

Who was Conn Ward?

Francis Constantine Ward was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and medical doctor. He was born in County Monaghan in 1890. He fought with the Irish Republican Army in his native county in the Irish War of Independence and on the Republican side in the Irish Civil War, having opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He was a founder member of Fianna Fáil.

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the September 1927 general election for the Monaghan constituency and was re-elected at each subsequent general election until his retirement in 1948. After Fianna Fáil's victory at the 1932 general election he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health. He retained this junior ministerial rank through the 1930s and into the 1940s. During this time he was effectively the Minister for Health.

In 1944 Ward banned tampons from the Irish market after fears were expressed from religious circles that they could result in female stimulation. In 1946 he was drawing up legislation for a bill that prefigured, and formed much of, Noël Browne's Mother and Child Scheme. This was not implemented by Fianna Fáil and Browne's efforts to do so led to the collapse of the First Inter-Party Government.