Joseph McGrath (12 August 1888 – 26 March 1966) was an Irish politician and businessman. He was a Sinn Féin and later a Cumann na nGaedheal Teachta Dála (TD) for various constituencies; Dublin St James's (1918–1921), Dublin North-West (1921–1923) and Mayo North (1923–1924), and developed widespread business interests.
Political career
page=4|thumb|right|alt=British Army military intelligence file for Joseph McGrath|British Army military intelligence file for Joseph McGrath
McGrath was born in Dublin in 1888. By 1916 he was working with his brother George at Craig Gardiner & Co., a firm of accountants in Dawson Street, Dublin. He worked with Michael Collins, a part-time fellow clerk and the two struck up a friendship. In his spare time McGrath worked as secretary for the Volunteer Dependents' Fund.
He soon joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He fought in Marrowbone Lane in the 1916 Easter Rising. McGrath was arrested after the rising, and jailed in Wormwood Scrubs and Brixton prisons in England. In the 1918 general election, he was elected as Sinn Féin TD for the Dublin St James's constituency, later sitting in the First Dáil. He was also a member of the Irish Republican Army, the guerrilla army of the Irish Republic, and successfully organised many bank robberies during the Irish war of Independence (1919–1921), where a small percentage of the proceeds was retained as a reward by him and his fellow-soldiers. During this time he was interred briefly at Ballykinlar Internment Camp. He escaped by dressing in army uniform and walking out of the gate with soldiers going on leave. He was eventually recaptured and spent time in jail in Belfast.
In October 1921 McGrath travelled with the Irish Treaty delegation to London as one of Michael Collins' personal staff. When the Provisional Government of Ireland was set up in January 1922, McGrath was appointed as Minister for Labour. In the Irish Civil War of 1922–1923, he took the pro-treaty side and was made Director of Intelligence, replacing Liam Tobin. In a strongly worded letter, written in red ink, McGrath warned Collins not to take his last, ill-fated trip to Cork. McGrath and eight other TDs who had resigned from Cumann na nGaedheal then resigned their seats in the Dáil and formed a new political party, the National Group. However, the new party did not contest the subsequent by-elections for their old seats. Instead, Cumann na nGaedheal won seven of the seats and Sinn Féin won the other two.
Accusation of involvement in the death of Noel Lemass
In 1927, McGrath took a libel case against the publishers of The Real Ireland by poet Cyril Bretherton, a book that claimed McGrath was responsible for the abduction and murder of Noel Lemass (the brother of Seán Lemass) in June 1923 during the civil war, as well as a subsequent coverup. McGrath won the court case. During the 1930s, McGrath and Seán Lemass reconciled and regularly played poker together. Cabinteely House was donated to the state in 1986, and the land developed as a public park. His son Patrick W. McGrath inherited many of his father's business interests, and also served as Fine Gael Senator from 1973 to 1977.