Local Government

Philip Monahan: A Man Apart - his life was interwoven with significant figures and events in Irish political and cultural history. Heavily involved in the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Fein, Monahan was imprisoned by the British authorities on three occasions. During his third incarceration he shared a cell with Eamon de Valera in Lincoln Jail and assisted in his escape. Following his release, Monahan served as an elected representative on Drogheda Borough Corporation, where he was elected Mayor, and on Louth County Council. He took the pro-Treaty side in the Civil Was and was shot in the neck in 1922. He went to Kerry as Commissioner in 1923, replacing the dissolved county council and administering Republican Kerry on behalf of the Irish Free State government. His final move was to Cork, where he managed the city for 35 years.

His greatest achievements was the initiation of the Corporation's new housing programme, the eradication of the slums and the creation of the differential rent system. As Commissioner and subsequently as City Manager, Monahan set high standards of probity and integrity in public administration - suaviter in modo, fortiter in re - flexible in method, constant in principle. He defined the role of City Manager and the practice of public management in Ireland.

Philip Monahan: A Man Apart chronicles the life of this complex individual and contextualises his legacy to local government within the reality of public administration in Ireland during turbulent times.

Philip Monahan: A Man Apart. The Life and Times of Ireland's First Local Authority Manager

Philip Monahan: A Man Apart - his life was interwoven with significant figures and events in Irish political and cultural history. Heavily involved in the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Fein, Monahan was imprisoned by the British authorities on three occasions. During his third incarceration he shared a cell with Eamon de Valera in Lincoln Jail and assisted in his escape. Following his release, Monahan served as an elected representative on Drogheda Borough Corporation, where he was elected Mayor, and on Louth County Council. He took the pro-Treaty side in the Civil Was and was shot in the neck in 1922. He went to Kerry as Commissioner in 1923, replacing the dissolved county council and administering Republican Kerry on behalf of the Irish Free State government. His final move was to Cork, where he managed the city for 35 years.

His greatest achievements was the initiation of the Corporation's new housing programme, the eradication of the slums and the creation of the differential rent system. As Commissioner and subsequently as City Manager, Monahan set high standards of probity and integrity in public administration - suaviter in modo, fortiter in re - flexible in method, constant in principle. He defined the role of City Manager and the practice of public management in Ireland.

Philip Monahan: A Man Apart chronicles the life of this complex individual and contextualises his legacy to local government within the reality of public administration in Ireland during turbulent times.

By: Aodh Quinlivan
ISBN: 978-1-904541-35-6

Published: Thursday 06, July 2006. 250 Pages


€30.00

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