James Tully

Who was James Tully?

James "Jim" Tully was an Irish trade unionist, politician and Deputy leader of the Labour Party who served as a minister in a series of Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition governments.

A native of Carlanstown, near Kells in County Meath, Tully was educated in Carlanstown schools and in St. Patrick's Classical School in Navan. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Meath constituency at the 1954 general election. He lost his seat at the 1957 general election, but was re-elected at the 1961 general election and served until 1982. When Labour entered into a coalition government with Fine Gael in 1973, he was appointed Minister for Local Government. While serving in that post he gained prominence for a massive increase in the building of public housing, and notoriety for an attempt to gerrymander Irish constituencies to ensure the re-election of the National Coalition at the 1977 general election. His electoral reorganisation effort, which came to be called a Tullymander, backfired spectacularly and helped engineer a landslide for the opposition, Fianna Fáil.

Also as Minister for Local government Tully decided on alterations to the plans for the controversial Dublin Corporation Civic Offices.