Hugh Gerard Sweetman (20 June 1908 – 28 January 1970) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Finance from 1954 to 1957. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kildare constituency from 1948 to 1970. He was a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 1943 to 1948.
Family and childhood
Hugh Gerard Sweetman was born on 20 June 1908. His father, James Sweetman, was a practising barrister, and the family's return for the 1911 census shows that they employed three servants at their Lower Baggot Street home. His mother Agnes was the daughter of Sir George Fottrell of North Great George's Street, Dublin. His brothers, Séamus, George, and Denis, served in World War II; Denis was killed on 23 May 1940 at Boulogne and Séamus was awarded an MBE in 1945. Roger Sweetman, was elected to the First Dáil representing Wexford North and was one of the first TDs to publicly call for a negotiated settlement to the Irish War of Independence.
He was educated at the Downside School in England. As the Blueshirts dissipated, Sweetman folded into the newly formed Fine Gael. Three weeks after his 29th birthday, Sweetman contested the 1937 general election.
He did not contest the 1938 general election but ran again in 1943, and once again failed to secure election. He secured a Seanad seat in weeks that followed, and remained in the upper house through the 1944 election, until finally, with the creation of a separate Kildare constituency, he won a Dáil seat at the 1948 general election.
The 1948 general election returned the first inter-party government under Taoiseach John A. Costello. This coalition represented an 'anybody-but-Fianna-Fáil' gathering from across the political spectrum, and the newest Kildare TD sat on the backbenches until the government fell in 1951.
A second inter-party government took office in June 1954 with Sweetman promoted to Minister for Finance.
In Professor Tom Garvin's review of the 1950s 'News from a New Republic', he comes in for praise as a moderniser and Garvin places him with a cross-party group including Daniel Morrissey of Fine Gael and William Norton of the Labour Party as well as Seán Lemass of Fianna Fáil who were pushing a modernising agenda
Sweetman also served as a member of Kildare County Council, including a term as chairman of the Council in the late 1940s.
Ministerial career
At the age of 45 years old, Sweetman inherited a national economy that was in crisis. Unemployment was at 421,000; over 100,000 people had left agriculture during the previous 8 years;
During the 1960s, Fine Gael itself witnessed a major transformation. This internal revolution culminated in the 'Just Society' document produced by Declan Costello. The distinctly social democrat flavour of the document was very much at odds with Sweetman's deeply conservative views. However, the support of Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald ensured that the document was adopted as the party's manifesto for the 1965 general election, with Sweetman, Dillon and the rest of the conservative wing capitulating after realising they were outnumbered. Nevertheless, he succeeded in having most of the policy gutted prior to the election.