Stephen Coughlan
Stephen Coughlan was an Irish Labour Party politician who served for sixteen years as Teachta Dála for the Limerick East constituency. During the 1930s and 40s, he was a member of the Irish Republican Army but in the post World War II period, he moved into politics, first with the Republican Clann na Poblachta party and then later with the Labour Party. After becoming extremely politically powerful in his home of Limerick City, Coughlan was criticised as being an extremely parochial politician who jealously guarded his power base against any challenger, even those in his own party, which resulted in a number of local splits and rivalries that ultimately corroded his support. Politically and socially conservative, Coughlan was frequently at odds with the rest of the Labour party, while his "colourful" behaviour often drew national attention.
Background
Coughlan was born in Limerick City, to a father Coughlan described as highly religious and to a mother Coughlan recalled as being a staunch Irish Republican. Coughlan educated at the local Presentation Sisters’ school before later boarding at Blackrock College, Dublin. He moved to Tralee in County Kerry in 1928 to become an insurance clerk. It was while Coughlan was in Tralee that he was recruited in the Irish Republican Army, with whom he remained a member until 1945. Coughlan claimed that during his time in the IRA he was involved in an unsuccessful assassination attempt upon Eoin O'Duffy, leader of the Blueshirts, with whom the IRA was engaged in a bitter feud with around 1933. It is also claimed that one of Coughlan's final acts in the IRA was an unsuccessful attempt to prevent O'Duffy and his Irish Brigade departing for the Spanish Civil War by ship from Limerick.In December 1944, Charlie Kerins of Tralee, with whom Coughlan had developed a friendship, was executed for his role as a Chief of Staff of the IRA. His death prompted Coughlan to turn towards constitutional politics.
Political career
Clann na Poblachta
Through his Republican and IRA connections, Coughlan became a founding member of Clann na Poblachta, a Republican party founded by Seán MacBride that attempted to overtake Fianna Fáil from the political left. Coughlan became chairman of Clann na Poblachta and in 1951 became represented the party when he became a member of Limerick Corporation. That same year he was named Mayor of Limerick for the first time. He stood for election as a Clann na Poblachta candidate at the 1954 general election, when he won the second-highest number of first-preference votes, but in later counts missed out on a seat by a margin of just five votes. A recount still left only a difference of 29 votes. He stood again for Clann na Poblachta at the 1957 general election, but his vote had fallen significantly and he was again unsuccessful.Labour TD
As Clann na Poblachta declined in support in the late 1950s, Coughlan left them and joined the Labour Party. He was elected as a Labour candidate at the 1961 general election, taking his seat in the 17th Dáil. In doing so Coughlan beat out former Clann party member, veteran campaigner and stalwart of Limerick politics Ted Russell.As a new member of Labour, Coughlan joined an existing rural republican wing of the party that included the likes of Dan Spring, Sean Treacy and Thomas Kyne. In 1963, Coughlan helped bring former Clann na Poblachta comrade Noël Browne into the Labour party, an action he supposedly regretted the rest of his life.
In order to make headway in politics, Coughlan more or less had to abandon his previous profession as a local bookmaker and publican in order to campaign. Once he broke through, however, Coughlan was noted, even by his critics, as a fiercely active politician in tune with his constituents. As a TD, instead of using the position to discuss national politics in Dáil Éireann, Coughlan's contributions in the 1960s were almost exclusively related to local Limerick issues.
It was in 1966 that Coughlan first began to clash with fellow Limerick Labour member Jim Kemmy, something that would go on to become a reoccurring feature of both men's careers. Kemmy was a Limerick bricklayer who had self-taught himself about socialism before joining the Labour party in 1963. Kemmy proved to be an energetic organiser and it didn't take him long to recruit 100 working-class locals as new branch members. Coughlan, however, was not impressed. When Kemmy's group organised a press conference to announce some plans they had and to push for more members, Coughlan arrived at the press meeting flanked by a number of former Clann na Poblachta members, barred the doors to journalists, seized all printed materials and effectively shut the conference down. The incident prompted an internal investigation by Labour, who sent high profile members Brendan Corish and Michael O'Leary. A public meeting was called between all involved, which saw Kemmy's faction of mainly urban Limerick members pitted against Coughlan's mostly rural supporters. Coughlan attempted to have Kemmy expelled but didn't have enough votes to carry the motion. Nothing was settled and the acrimony between Coughlan and Kemmy was to continue for years to come.
Coughlan was also known for his considerable thirst for publicity. One anecdote recalls that in 1968, upon learning a Limerick mother was due to give birth to triplets, Coughlan rushed over to the hospital to be there. Coughlan had his picture taken with them before then later in the Dáil demanding that state benefits for triplets be increased. Another recalls that in 1967, following the closure of a meat factory in Limerick, Coughlan showed up at the Dáil at the wrong debate looking dishevelled and began interrupting the proceedings to try to turn the subject to the factory. Fellow members of the Dáil accused Coughlan of being drunk as well as out of order before he was escorted away by Dáil ushers. Although the stunt was not received well by fellow politicians, Coughlan's support base back in Limerick were pleased.
For the Christmas of 1968, Coughlan sent out 23,000 Christmas cards to his constituents that read as follows:
A devout Catholic, Coughlan was known for his social conservatism. During a debate in the Dáil in March 1971, Coughlan summed up his mentality by stating "If we resort to the despicable practices of contraception, divorce and abortion, we shall be finished as a nation." Over the years when those issues would come up in the Dáil, Coughlan would find himself conspicuously absent when it came time to vote in order to avoid losing the party whip.
Second term as Mayor of Limerick
In 1969, Coughlan was still a TD when he became Mayor of Limerick for a second time, and it was this period that was marked by some of the most high-profile controversies of Coughlan's career.1969 general election
By 1969, the Labour party was experiencing a major upswing in the number of members interested in socialism as the political trend of the New Left swept across western countries. Indeed, Labour party leader Brendan Corish announced the party's slogan for that year's general election would be "The seventies will be socialist!". This attracted a number of "intellectuals" to stand for the party as candidates, such as Justin Keating, Conor Cruise O'Brien, David Thornley and Noël Browne. Coughlan was not happy with the new direction of the party nor these candidates. At this time Coughlan had developed a new relationship with the editor of the main local newspaper, the Limerick Leader. Using this connection, Coughlan managed to have an "anonymous" leader published on the front page of the Limerick Leader on election day 1969 in which the author lamented the new direction of the Labour party as well as its new batch of candidates, but still implored the readers to vote for Coughlan. The letter was also designed to erode support for some of Coughlan's local rivals; Michael Lipper and Tony Pratschke ran alongside Coughlan in the 1969 election on the Labour ticket, but both were considerably more left-wing than Coughlan and had embraced the party's new direction.South African Rugby team in Limerick
In late 1969, the South African Rugby team has been touring the United Kingdom. The tour had been marked by a number of Anti-Apartheid protests. Going into 1970, the team was due to continue the tour on into Ireland, including games to be held in Limerick. However, the protests in the UK had prompted the Irish left into action as well. Jim Kemmy, himself a longstanding rugby fan as well as the chairman of a local anti-apartheid group, promised to organise opposition to the South Africans playing in Limerick. However, there was little consensus in Limerick about what the reaction to the team should be. Unlike other parts of Ireland, all social classes supported Rugby in Limerick, and thus many citizens of the city feared to "politicise" the sport for fear of breaking that unity. As the Irish left ramped up efforts to create a boycott against the team, the Limerick Leader opined that while Apartheid was "indefensible", so too was Communism and suggested that the Anti-Apartheid campaign was going to be overtaken by Communists.Coughlan took a similar line at first; in December 1969 he declared he would not meet with the South African team, but stated that he feared "revolutionary communist groups" would use the boycott as an excuse to "stir up trouble". He also said that in relation to the boycott, some of his colleagues in Labour had "gone haywire". When Barry Desmond TD announced that Labour as a party would back the boycott, Coughlan was furious and declared "the damn cheek for this jumped up overnight politician to come to us in Limerick to tell us how to act".
The matter of the South African game quickly became a national issue. Taoiseach Jack Lynch made it known he would not be in attendance. The Ulster Unionist Party began threatening to hold a counter-protest in favour of the South Africans, while the Ulster Volunteer Force also threatened action if the South Africans were interfered with. On Saturday 10 January, the South Africans played at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Over 6,000 people peacefully protested against the match, including numerous high profile Labour members. Despite the Dublin match passing without major incident, the Limerick Leader ran panicked articles about the upcoming Limerick match, suggesting "thousands" of outsiders and "extreme left-wingers" were due to descend on the city.
On 14 January, the South African game went ahead in Limerick. Wet weather conditions and local attitudes meant that the protests were small in number, with 350 protesters standing out Thomond Park. Minor scuffles took place on O'Connell Street. Coughlan himself attended the match.
In the wake of the match, there was unease about Coughlan nationally in the Labour party for not actively protesting as well the fact he had publicly criticised high profile Labour members for doing so.