William Thomas Cosgrave (Liam Tomás Mac Cosgair; 6 June 1880 – 16 November 1965), known generally as W.T. Cosgrave, was an Irish politician who succeeded Michael Collins as Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government from August to December 1922. He served as the first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932.
He was a Sinn Féin councillor on Dublin Corporation from 1909 until 1922 and joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. Cosgrave played an active role in the Easter Rising of 1916 serving under Eamonn Ceannt at the South Dublin Union. Following the rebellion Cosgrave was sentenced to death, however this was later commuted to penal servitude for life and he was interned in Frongoch, Wales. While in prison Cosgrave won a seat for Sinn Féin in the 1917 Kilkenny by-election.
He again won an Irish seat in the 1918 general election, serving as MP for Carlow-Kilkenny. He was released from prison in 1918 under a general amnesty and took part in the soon to be established Dáil Éireann. On 24 June 1919 Cosgrave married Louisa Flanagan in Dublin.
In April 1919 Brugha resigned and Éamon de Valera, the Sinn Féin leader, who had just escaped from prison with the help of Michael Collins, assumed the premiership instead. The new government and state, known as the Irish Republic, claimed a right to govern the island of Ireland. It also declared UDI, that is, a declaration of independence which remained until the end of the Republic unrecognised by any other world state except the Russian Republic under Lenin.
In 1920 he oversaw elections to local councils in which the new system of proportional representation was used. Sinn Féin gained control of 28 of the 33 local councils. These councils then cut their links to the British, and pledged loyalty to the Sinn Féin Department of Local Government, under Cosgrave.
To a majority however, republican status remained for the moment an unattainable goal, with the republic unrecognised internationally. Dominion status offered, in the words of Michael Collins "the freedom to achieve freedom." At the cabinet meeting in Dublin held to consider the Treaty immediately after it had been signed, Cosgrave agreed with Collins and with Arthur Griffith, de Valera's predecessor as leader of Sinn Féin and the chairman of the delegation which included Collins that had negotiated the Treaty. After the Dáil voted by 64 to 57 to approve the Treaty in January, 1922, De Valera resigned the presidency (which in August 1922 had been upgraded from a prime ministerial President of Dáil Éireann to a full head of state, called President of the Irish Republic). De Valera was replaced as president by Griffith. Collins, in accordance with the Treaty, formed a Provisional Government which included Cosgrave.
Though it had the option of going for General Richard Mulcahy, Collins' successor as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, the pro-Treaty leadership opted for Cosgrave, in part due to his democratic credentials as a long-time politician. Having previously held the Local Government and Finance portfolios he became simultaneously President of Dáil Éireann (Griffith had returned his office to its pre-August 1922 name) and Chairman of the Provisional Government. When, on 6 December 1922, the Irish Free State came into being, Cosgrave became its first prime minister, called President of the Executive Council.
By many he was never forgiven for the execution without trial of republican prisoners during the civil war. In all 77 republicans were executed by the Free State between November 1922 and the end of the war in May 1923, including Robert Erskine Childers, Liam Mellowes and Rory O'Connor, far more than the 14 IRA Volunteers the British executed in the War of Independence. The Republican side, for their part, attacked pro-Treaty politicians and their homes and families. Cosgrave's family home was burned down by Anti-Treaty fighters and an uncle of his was shot dead . (See also Executions during the Irish Civil War)
In April 1923 the Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin members organised a new political party called Cumann na nGaedhael with Cosgrave as leader. The following month the civil war was brought to an end, when the remaining Anti-Treaty IRA guerrillas announced a ceasefire and dumped their arms.
In the first few years in power Cosgrave's new government faced a number of problems. Firstly, the government attempted to reduce the size of the Irish Army. During the civil war it had grown to over 55,000 men which, now that the civil war was over, was far too large and far too costly to maintain. However, some army officers challenged the authority of the government to cut the size of the Army. The officers, mostly Pro-Treaty IRA men, were angry that the government was not doing enough to help to create a republic and also there would be massive unemployment.
In March 1924 more layoffs were expected and the army officers, Major-General Liam Tobin and Colonel Charles Dalton sent an ultimatum to the government demanding an end to the mobilisation. Kevin O'Higgins, the Minister for Justice, who was also acting-President for Cosgrave while he was in hospital, moved to resolve the so-called "Army Mutiny". Richard Mulcahy, the Minister for Defence, resigned and O'Higgins was victorious in a very public power struggle within Cumann na nGaedhael. The crisis within the army was solved but the government was divided.
In 1924 the British and Irish governments agreed to attend the "Boundary Commission" to redraw the border which partitioned Ireland between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The Free State's representative was Eoin MacNeill, a respected scholar and Minister for Education. The Free State expected to gain much territory in heavily Catholic and republican parts of counties Londonderry, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Armagh, as the British government had indicated during the treaty negotiations that the wishes of the nationalist inhabitants along the border would be taken into account. However, after months of secret negotiations a newspaper reported that there would be little change to the border and the Free State would actually lose territory in Donegal. MacNeill resigned from the commission and the government for not reporting to Cosgrave on the details of the commission. Cosgrave immediately went to London for a meeting with the British Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, where they agreed to let the border remain as it was, and in return the Free State did not have to pay its pro-rata share of the Imperial debt. In the Dáil debate on 7 December Cosgrave stated: "I had only one figure in my mind and that was a huge nought. That was the figure I strove to get, and I got it.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty itself also gave the Irish much more freedom than many other dominions. The Oath of Allegiance in Ireland was much less royalist than in Canada or Australia. The king's representative in Ireland was Irish, unlike the other dominions, and although the head of state was the king, power was derived from the Irish people and not him. There were also questions raised about the word "treaty". The British claimed it was an internal affair while the Irish saw it as an international agreement between two independent states, a point which was accepted by the League of Nations.
The new government decided to concentrate on developing agriculture, while doing little to help the industrial sector. Agriculture responded well with stricter quality control being introduced and the passing of a Land Act to help farmers buy their farms. Also, the Irish Sugar Company and the Agricultural Credit Corporation were established to encourage growth. However, the economic depression that hit in the 1930s soon undid the good work of Cosgrave and his ministers. Industry was seen as secondary to agriculture and little was done to improve it. The loss of the north-east of Ireland had a bad effect on the country as a whole. However, the Electricity Supply Board, with the first national grid in Europe, was established to provide employment and electricity to the new state.
In June, 1927, a General Election was held in which de Valera's new party, Fianna Fáil, won many seats on an abstentionist platform. In July, the Minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, was assassinated on his way home from Sunday Mass by the IRA. Cosgrave had legislation passed to force Fianna Fáil to take their seats in the Dáil and this proved successful with de Valera and his party entering the Dáil.
A general election was not necessary until the end of 1932, however, Cosgrave called one for February of that year. There was growing unrest in the country and a fresh mandate was needed for an important Commonwealth meeting in the summer. Cumann na nGaedhael fought the election on its record of providing ten years of honest government and political and economic stability. Instead of developing new policies the party played the "red card" by portraying the new party, Fianna Fáil, as communists. Fianna Fáil offered the electorate a fresh and popular manifesto of social reform. Unable to compete with this Cosgrave and his party lost the election, and a minority Fianna Fáil government came to power.
In overseeing the establishment of the formal institutions of the state his performance as its first political leader may have been undervalued. In an era when democratic governments formed in the aftermath of the First World War were moving away from democracy and towards dictatorships, the Free State under Cosgrave remained unambiguously democratic, a fact shown by his handing over of power to his one-time friend, then rival, Éamon de Valera, when de Valera's Fianna Fáil won the 1932 general election, in the process killing off talk within the Irish Army of staging a coup to keep Cosgrave in power and de Valera out of it.
Perhaps the best endorsement made of Cosgrave came from his old rival, with whom he was reconciled before his death, Éamon de Valera. De Valera once in 1932 and later close to his own death, made two major comments. To an interviewer, when asked what was his biggest mistake, he said without a pause, "not accepting the Treaty". To his own son, Vivion, weeks after taking power in 1932 and reading the files on the actions of Cosgrave's governments in relation to its work in the Commonwealth, he said of Cosgrave and Cosgrave's ministers ". . . when we got in and saw the files. . . they did a magnificent job, Viv. They did a magnificent job.
Cosgrave's son, Liam, succeeded his father as a TD in 1944 and went on to become leader of Fine Gael from 1965 to 1977 and Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977. W.T.'s grandson, also called Liam also served as a TD and as Senator.
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