Remembering a principled Tipperary politician who died on Christmas Day at 38 years of age

Remembering Joe MacDonagh, TD

Joe MacDonagh, TD died on Christmas Day in 1922, at the age of 38, from complications with appendicitis he suffered while on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail.

Joe was the younger brother of the executed 1916 Rising leader Thomas MacDonagh.

Joe was very active in Sinn Féin politics and during the War of Independence. he was jailed by the authorities several times and he took part in hunger strikes in Mountjoy, Dundalk, Belfast and Reading Jails. He was elected TD for North Tipperary in 1918 and re-elected again at the 1921 and 1922 elections.

Joe voted against The Treaty and was imprisoned by the Free State government during the Civil War in October 1922.

He went on hunger strike as a protest against the Free State government's treatment of political prisoners. He fell seriously ill with acute appendicitis while on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail and was transferred to the Mater Hospital where sadly he died on Christmas Day.

He was survived by his wife Margaret and children Mary, Tom and Joe. He was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery.