‘Jobbing with Tory and Liberal’: Irish Nationalists and the Politics of Patronage 1880–1914*

Abstract

Neil Collins and Mary O'Shea have recently described the practice (apparently common until the early 1970s) of parliamentary representatives in the Republic of Ireland using their political influence to secure low-level public sector jobs for constituents in return for their votes as an 'interesting boundary case' of political corruption.' However, while they acknowledge that canvassing for jobs in return for 'electoral advantage' might be regarded as corrupt in some political cultures, they persuasively argue not only that this activity was routine, non-allocative and unremunerated, but that in the Irish context it should be seen very much as part of the brokerage culture which formerly defined relations between TDs (Teachta Dcila = Daiil deputy) and their constituents. This conclusion builds on the work of