Declan Costello
Declan Costello was an Irish judge, barrister and Fine Gael politician who served as President of the High Court from 1995 to 1998, a Judge of the High Court from 1977 to 1998 and Attorney General of Ireland from 1973 to 1977. He also served as a Teachta Dála for the Dublin North-West constituency from 1951 to 1969 and for the Dublin South-West constituency from 1973 to 1977.
The formulator of the Towards a Just Society policy document, Costello was credited with shifting Fine Gael towards the left, a move which made the party a more attractive coalition partner for the Labour Party. Costello's ideals were later viewed as having been taken up by Garret FitzGerald, who became leader of Fine Gael and was twice Taoiseach. As Attorney General, Costello created the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Law Reform Commission, and for this Costello has been called the "most consequential attorney general in the state's history".
Background
David Declan Costello was born and grew up in Ballsbridge, Dublin, the son of John A. Costello who served as Taoiseach on two occasions, and Ida Mary Costello. He attended the Sacred Heart convent school, Leeson Street, and St Xavier's School, Donnybrook. He was educated at University College Dublin, where he studied Law and Economics from 1943, and was an auditor of the UCD Law Society. In 1944, he entered King's Inn on a scholarship. During his time at UCD, he won several medals for debating in the Law Society and the Literary and Historical Society. His time as a student was interrupted in 1946 due to a bout of tuberculosis of the kidney which forced him to spend 10 months in a health clinic in Switzerland. He survived the disease but at the cost of one of his kidneys, which would leave him in relative frail health and appearance for the rest of his life. Due to a relapse of his condition in 1947 that forced him to once again return to Switzerland, he missed his father's ascent to the office of Taoiseach in February 1948.In 1948, Costello completed his degree, joined the Irish Bar and began practising law in and around Dublin.
Political career
Becoming a TD and early social influences
Having a family connection to the party, Costello had been a member of Fine Gael since joining college. In 1951, at the age of just 24, he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD for the Dublin North-West constituency during that year's general election. He was the youngest member of the house at the time, earning him the informal title of Baby of the Dáil. The following years would significantly influence Costello's political views; his exposure to the poor living conditions of his constituents in Dublin North-west radically altered his views on housing. In 1953, Costello married Joan Fitzsimons. With Joan, Costello would go on to have four sons and two daughters. One of these sons was later found to have autism, and the cause of children with special needs quickly became an area of special concern for Costello, particularly as "his elder brother Wilfrid had been left with a mild mental disability during birth". Costello co-founded the Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Handicapped Children in 1955, and aided in the fund-raising for a daycare centre in 1956 for the education of children who were mentally disabled. The fundraising would lead to the daycare centre becoming known as an official school in 1960. Beginning in 1956 until he died in 2011, Costello was the St Michael's House president, making him ultimately responsible for 170 centres across the Dublin region.Stepping out of his father's shadow
After the 1954 general election, John A. Costello became Taoiseach for a second time, while Declan retained his seat. Although Declan was not placed in a cabinet position, he had a measure of influence over his father and the government. Considered the most radical of those who advised his father, Declan pushed against the austerity measures of Finance Minister Gerard Sweetman, who in time would become a great rival and adversary. Following the 1957 Irish general election, in which Fine Gael and its coalition partners lost control of the government to Fianna Fáil, Costello became Fine Gael's spokesperson on foreign affairs. In this capacity, Costello asserted liberal, anti-communist views while encouraging European integration amongst the growing European Economic Community organisation. Two issues, in particular, drew his attention: the government's support for the withdrawal of Russian and US forces from Europe, and the support is given for a resolution favouring the inclusion of People's Republic of China as part of the UN.It was also at this time that he began to advocate that Fine Gael move politically leftward to broaden its image beyond that of simply being a status quo, bourgeois party, as well as to make it a more attractive coalition partner to the Labour Party. Towards the end of the 1950s, Costello began to assert himself even more in Fine Gael; alongside a growing collection of progressives within the party, Costello founded a monthly political magazine as well as a research and study group focused on developing new policies for the party. However, to their disappointment, Costello and his faction found the rest of Fine Gael slow and sluggish in response to their new ideas and thought that they were against the complex making of policies and the voicing of personal differences in public. Following his father's retirement from politics in 1959, longstanding member James Dillon became leader of the party and Costello felt his ability to influence policy-making slipping away.
The ''Just Society''
In 1963, Costello found an attempt to change party policy suppressed by the party leadership. Regardless, in April 1964 Costello broke party protocols and circulated a proposal to radically alter Fine Gael's economic policies. At this point Costello did not expect his proposal to gain traction within the party; instead, it was to be used as a pretext to leave the party and politics, and to turn to his work as a lawyer. Costello neither canvassed other party members nor spoke to the press following the circulation of his document. However, to his surprise, Costello's ideas began to pick up momentum with Fine Gael backbenchers, who had begun to crave a means by which Fine Gael could differentiate itself from Fianna Fáil. Journalists too began to take an interest in the initiative, sensing a new direction emerging in Irish politics.Costello began to argue his case with the Fine Gael frontbench, and using his honed debating skills, dominated proceedings. Unable to outright repudiate Costello's ideas, the frontbench sought to bog down discussions and drag them out. However, in March 1965 the party was shocked by the development that Fianna Fáil were seeking to hold a general election. With no time to develop a separate manifesto other than what Costello was proposing, his ideas were given the green light. He would go on to expand his initial policy document into a 30,000-word manifesto called Towards a Just Society, which would have a major impact on the party for many decades.
Towards a Just Society called for a radical shift in the Irish economy to something closer to a social democratic mixed economy; it called for production objectives in the private sector, earnings and credit from banks to be controlled, no discrimination of women's wages, industrial school reformation, lower use of indirect taxes, free near-universal health care with the decision of what doctor to have and an educational system that permits moving to university despite being wealthy or not. Although radical, because of its length Towards a Just Society was difficult to communicate to the Irish public in the short time the party had to campaign in the 1965 Irish general election. Fine Gael did not make gains in the elections, and afterwards, Labour were rattled by the move, and in response, they also moved more to the left. However, the Just Society's critique of public services in Ireland forced Fianna Fáil to alter its policies, and during the election, they made promises regarding housing, health and welfare. Costello's political profile was enhanced by the Just Society concept.
After the 1965 election
Costello continued his work as a TD for Dublin North-West and came to seek the leadership of Fine Gael to continue his Just Society project. His opportunity came quickly, as following the 1965 election James Dillon stepped down as leader of the party. However, Costello was politically outmanoeuvred by Dillon and Sweetman who moved rapidly to place Liam Cosgrave as Dillon's successor and were successful. In the aftermath, a dejected Costello sought to become the party's spokesperson for Finance, but instead was handed the position of spokesperson for health and social welfare. Costello was further frustrated by Cosgrave's limp espousal of the Just Society concept.Post-1965, Costello's health once again began to haunt him, and his position as de facto leader of Fine Gael's progressive faction increasingly fell to a young Garret FitzGerald, whom Costello himself had brought into the party. Like Costello, Fitzgerald was the son of a stalwart of the party, being the son of Desmond Fitzgerald, and like Costello Fitzgerald shook off the traditional conservatism of his father to embrace a more social liberal outlook. In February 1967, Costello said that he would not aim for the Dáil again and focused on his successful legal work. Michael O'Leary of Labour lamented that Irish politics would be losing a "young man of great courage and idealism". Fine Gael backbencher John Healy wrote "He has been lost to Fine Gael almost from the day Mr Liam Cosgrave took over, reshuffled his deck and left Declan Costello on the fringe of things. Declan Costello deserved better: he did not get it".
In 1968/1969, Costello successfully defended Sean Bourke against extradition to the United Kingdom about his assisting George Blake, the Soviet double agent, to escape from prison. In 1972 Costello unsuccessfully defended journalist Kevin O'Kelly against contempt of court charges, arising from a radio interview he conducted with Provisional IRA leader Seán Mac Stiofáin. O'Kelly was sentenced to three months in prison.
Although outside the confines of Fine Gael, Costello continued to remain in the political sphere. He would host parties and meetings of Fine Gael and Labour members, where they would discuss possible Fine Gael/Labour coalitions, how to dislodge Cosgrave as leader of Fine Gael and even the possibility of forming a new political party. When the prospects of an actual Fine Gael/Labour coalition became more and more tangible from 1970 onwards, Costello announced he would stand for the Dáil in the next election. He stood in a different constituency from his previous one, moving to Dublin South-West, but was elected at the 1973 Irish general election. The inclusion of a progressive such as Costello on the Fine Gael ticket helped cement the Fine Gael/Labour coalition.