Tom Derrig
| Thomas Derrig | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister for Lands | |
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In office 13 June 1951 – 2 June 1954 |
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| Preceded by | Joseph Blowick |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Blowick |
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In office 8 September 1939 – 2 July 1943 |
|
| Preceded by | Gerald Boland |
| Succeeded by | Seán Moylan |
| Minister for Education | |
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In office 18 June 1940 – 18 February 1948 |
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| Preceded by | Éamon de Valera |
| Succeeded by | Richard Mulcahy |
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In office 9 March 1932 – 8 September 1939 |
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| Preceded by | John M. O'Sullivan |
| Succeeded by | Seán T. O'Kelly |
| Minister for Posts and Telegraphs | |
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In office 8 September 1939 – 27 September 1939 |
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| Preceded by | Oscar Traynor |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Little |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
26 November 1897 Westport, County Mayo, Ireland |
| Died | 19 November 1956 (aged 58) Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
| Spouse(s) | Sinéad Derrig |
| Alma mater | University College Galway |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Thomas Derrig (Irish: Tomás Ó Deirg; 26 November 1897 – 19 November 1956) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician.
Derrig was born on 26 November 1897, in County Mayo. He was educated locally and at University College Galway. During his time in college he organised a corps of the Irish Volunteers. After the 1916 Easter Rising he was arrested and imprisoned. After his release he graduated from college and became headmaster in a technical college in Mayo. During the Irish War of Independence Derrig was interned at the Curragh Camp. While there he was elected a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo North and West.
Derrig took the republican side during the Irish Civil War. He was later captured by the Irish Free State army. While in custody of the Criminal Investigation Department he was severely injured, having an eye shot out by CID detectives.
At the June 1927 general election he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow–Kilkenny. In Éamon de Valera's first government in 1932 Derrig was appointed Minister for Education. Derrig initiated a review of industrial and reformatory schools and the rules under the Children Act 1908, resulting in the critical 1936 Cussen Report, which he shelved. His lack of action was noted in 2009 when the Ryan Report examined the subsequent management of these "residential institutions"; Derrig was the first minister to seek a report that could have resulted in much-needed reforms. It has been suggested that he did not want to follow British law reforms in the 1920s and 1930s because of his strong anti-British views, and that Irish children had suffered needlessly as a result.
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