James Geoghegan

Who was James Geoghegan?

James Geoghegan was an Irish politician, and later a justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland.

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in a by-election on 13 June 1930 as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for the Longford–Westmeath constituency. He served in Éamon de Valera's first cabinet in 1932–33 as Minister for Justice. In 1936 he became Attorney General of Ireland, serving for less than two months before being appointed to the Supreme Court on 22 December 1936. He retained his Dáil seat until 1937 when he retired from politics. He remained on the Supreme Court until his retirement, due to ill health, in 1949. His son, Hugh Geoghegan enjoyed the distinction in 2000 of being the first appointee to Ireland's Supreme Court to follow in his father's footsteps.