Hogan, Patrick (1885–1969), Labour politician, was born 10 October 1885 in Culleen, Kilmaley, Ennis, Co. Clare, only son of Patrick Hogan, labourer, and his wife Bridget (née O'Connor). Educated locally, he worked as a postman; a fluent Irish speaker, he became active in Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League. He was in Limerick during the 1916 rising after which he was deported to Reading jail in England. It seems that he had already begun to display a talent for writing as his play ‘Roisin's robe’ had been due for staging at Liberty Hall on Easter Sunday night, 1916; it was later published in 1966. During his incarceration he continued to write prose and music, reflected most memorably in the song ‘The shawl of Galway grey’, which became popular, and several short stories, later collected as The unmarried daughter (1928), which made clear his resentment of social injustices in Irish life. He also write the novel, Camps on the hearthstone (1956), a fictionalised account of his IRA service. On his return from England, he took an active part in the 1917 East Clare by-election which was won by Éamon de Valera (qv), and served with the IRA in Clare during the war of independence. He was tried by military court for being in possession of arms in 1921. After the signing of the Anglo–Irish treaty he became a local organiser for the ITGWU and joined the Labour party. In the ‘pact’ election of 1922 Hogan was effectively intimidated by anti-treatyites into not contesting a dáil seat in Clare. Elsewhere, however, Labour fared well, with 17 of its 18 candidates returned, and the likelihood is that Hogan would have been elected, given that in the following year's general election he won a seat in Clare and was consistently re-elected until 1938.
In October 1927 he was appointed leas ceann comhairle (deputy speaker) of the sixth dáil, but resigned the position in March 1928, believing it was hindering his parliamentary work, particularly at a time when Labour was under pressure to provide more effective opposition to the government. Capable of robust debate and sharp exchanges, he was a strong defender of the party leader Tom Johnson (qv). Following Cumann na nGaedheal's introduction of stringent emergency legislation after the assassination of Kevin O'Higgins (qv) in 1927, Hogan accused Patrick McGilligan (qv) and his colleagues of being consumed with ‘bloodlust and rage’. In 1932 he accepted election as leas ceann comhairle, a position he held until 1938, with all-party consensus from 1933. After defeat in the general election of 1938 he was elected to Seanad Éireann, where he represented Labour for five years. Having qualified as a barrister in 1936, he used his time outside politics to practise law in Clare, where he lived at Ard-na-Greine, Ennis.
Re-elected a TD in 1943, he lost his seat in 1944. On regaining it in 1948, he was again elected leas ceann comhairle. Regarded as a gentle, quick-witted and effective arbiter of dáil debates, he succeeded Frank Fahy (qv) as ceann comhairle in 1951; he was proposed by John A. Costello (qv), the outgoing taoiseach, seconded by Joe Blowick (qv), and endorsed by de Valera. Surviving a severe illness in 1960, he held the position until his resignation in November 1967; he remained a TD until his death. He served in various other capacities throughout his career, including vice-chairman of Clare County Council, a member of the Gaeltacht Commission, chairman of the Civil Service and Local Appointments commissions, and president of the Irish Tourist Association. He died 24 January 1969 at the home of his daughter in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. Married to Annie Mackey (d. 1941), daughter of a national school teacher from Ennis, Hogan also had two sons.