Thomas Francis O'Higgins () (20 November 1890 – 1 November 1953) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and medical practitioner who served as Minister for Defence from 1948 to 1951, Minister for Industry and Commerce from March 1951 to June 1951 and Leader of the Opposition from January 1944 to June 1944. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1929 to 1932 and 1937 to 1953.

Following the killing of his father and his brother during the Irish Civil War in the 1920s, he became politically radicalised and joined Cumann na nGaedhael, as well as also briefly becoming the leader of the Blueshirts.

Background

O'Higgins grew up in Stradbally, County Laois, the second son of sixteen children (eight boys, eight girls) of Dr. Thomas Higgins and Anne Sullivan. His mother was the daughter of Timothy Daniel Sullivan, an Irish nationalist, journalist, politician and poet. His father's first cousin, Tim Healy, was one of the most well known Irish MPs in the British House of Commons in the late 19th century and later the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State. Thomas grew up alongside his younger brother Kevin O'Higgins, the fourth son of his parents.

Higgins was educated at Presentation Convent, Stradbally, the Christian Brothers’ schools in Maryborough (now Portlaoise), and Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare before studying medicine at University College Dublin. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1914. It was while practising as a Doctor in Fontstown, County Kildare, in the late 1910s, that he became a local organiser for both Sinn Féin and the Irish Volunteers. In 1919, he was imprisoned twice; first, he was sent to in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, and then the Curragh Camp, County Kildare, for soliciting subscriptions to the first Dáil Éireann loan. This was the beginning of a sixteen-year stint as a TD for Laois–Offaly.

With the Blueshirts

The political atmosphere of the early 1930s in Ireland was becoming increasingly divisive. The 1920s had seen the Labour Party as the main opposition in the Dáil but in 1927 Fianna Fáil dropped their abstentionism and entered the chamber, becoming the main opposition, and were much more vocally opposed to Cumann na nGaedhael than Labour had been. Fianna Fáil had been pressured to drop their abstentionism partially after Kevin O'Higgins as Minister for Justice brought forward a law that requiring all political candidates to swear that they would take the Oath of Allegiance if elected to the Dáil. Fianna Fáil eventually agreed to do so after dismissing the Oath as an "Empty formula". The onset of the Great Depression further increased tensions as the economy tanked.

It was the midset of this that Fianna Fáil won the 1932 general election. Upon entry into government, Fianna Fáil set about releasing many of the political prisoners arrested by Cumann na nGaedhael in the preceding years. As a result, many members of the IRA were freed. The IRA and many released prisoners, who held Cumann na nGaedhael in contempt, began a "campaign of unrelenting hostility" against those associated with the former Cumann na nGaedheal government. Frank Ryan, one of the most prominent socialists in 1930s Ireland, active in the IRA and Republican Congress, declared "as long as we have fists and boots, there will be no free speech for traitors". As a consequence, many Cumann na nGaedhael public meeting began to be disrupted by IRA members.

In response, former members of the National Army and supporters of the Cumann na nGaedhael party formed the Army Comrades Association (ACA), better known as the Blueshirts. The organisation began acting as stewards at Cumann na nGaedhael meetings and began engaging in street fighting with IRA members. In August 1932, O'Higgins was invited to become the leader of the ACA, which he accepted. O'Higgins was joined in the organisation by fellow Cumann na nGaedhael TDs Ernest Blythe, Patrick McGilligan and Desmond Fitzgerald. It was under O'Higgins direction that the ACA went from an association of ex-National Army members into a crusading right-wing movement hitched to Cumann na nGaedhael. O'Higgins asked ACA members to defend the right to free speech and assembly against "Republican thuggery", and to defend Christian values against "Communist influences" he suggested were entering Ireland via the IRA. On 3 March 1954, Stephen Barrett of Fine Gael won the by-election for the vacant seat.

Personal life

On 17 October 1915, O'Higgins married Agnes McCarthy of Cork. They had four sons and one daughter together.