GOVERNMENT OF EIRE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27367, 4 June 1954, Page 11

GOVERNMENT OF EIRE

MR COSTELLO TO BE PRIME MINISTER DUBLIN, June 2. Mr John Costello, leader of the Fine Gael (Conservative) Party, was today elected Prime Minister of the Irish Republic by 79 votes to 66. The new Dail was meeting for the first time since the recent general election to elect a Prime Minister and Government. As a result of the election the Fianna Fail (Liberal) Government of Mr Eamon de Valera lost its small majority. The state of the parties in the Dail is: Fianna Fail 65 seats, Fine Gael 50, Labour 19, Farmers 5, New Republicans 3, Independents 5. Mr Costello, who is 63 this month, was a prize-winning law student who went on to a brilliant legal career after graduating from University College, Dublin. He was elected to the Dail more than 20 ago, and has never failed to be re-elected.

A non-drinker and a devout Roman Catholic, he first became Prime Min ister in 1948, when Mr de Valera was

defeated. During his term of office the last tie with Britain was broken by asserting the status of the Irish Republic as an independent country outside the British Commonwealth. Mr Costello announced the new Government, which the Dail approved. The chief Ministers are: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mr W. Norton (Labour) Education, Mr Richard Mulcahy (Fine Gael); Defence, General S. Maceoin (Fine Gael); Agriculture, Mr James Dillon (Fine Gael); Finance, Mr Gerald Sweetman (Fine Gael); External Affairs, Mr Liam Cosgrove (Fine Gael).