Coogan, Edward (Eamonn, ‘Ned’) (1896–1948), deputy Garda commissioner, barrister, and politician, was born 30 November 1896 in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, the only son of Timothy Coogan, shopkeeper of Castlecomer, and Bridget Coogan (née Joyce). Educated at Castlecomer national school, St Kieran's College, Kilkenny (1910–13), St Mary's College, Knockbeg, Co. Carlow (1914), and UCD (1914–18), he took second place and graduated B.Comm. with first-class honours and exhibition in 1917. An active member of the Irish Volunteers and later the National Volunteers (1914–22), he declined the offer of a scholarship to the London School of Economics in 1918 due to his political commitments.
Vice-principal (1918–19) of the Technical Institute, Athlone, he was later principal of the Limerick School of Commerce and vice-principal of the Technical Institute, Limerick, under the dáil administration (1919–20). On the British government's suppression of the Technical Institute in May 1920, he spent some time organising Volunteers in Kilkenny before joining colleagues from the Limerick Technical Institute in the dáil department of local government in September 1920, serving under M. D. de Lacy. During this time he also served on the intelligence staff of the Volunteers.
Following the Anglo-Irish treaty he served for a short time under the provisional government with the Department of Finance before being appointed assistant commissioner of the Civic Guard on 1 September 1922, and later deputy commissioner (1 January 1923). At the Garda headquarters Coogan was one of the few senior-ranking officers who had not served with the RIC. Set the task of supervising the distribution of the force around the country, he also had charge of the Garda educational syllabus. It is said that he personally set and directed all promotion and educational examinations during the first three or four years of the force.
In charge of the crimes branch (1923–April 1934) he conducted the investigation into the La Mancha murders in Malahide (1926) and into the disappearance on Christmas day 1929 of Laurence Griffin, the local postman at Stradbally, Co. Waterford. The case attracted the attention of the national press and charges were eventually brought against ten individuals, including two gardaí. Seven of the accused were represented by Peter O'Connor (qv) (1874–1957), solicitor and Olympic gold medallist. The case caused much controversy, with all charges eventually being dropped and the crime remaining unsolved.
Fluent in French, Coogan represented the Garda Síochána at the International Police Congress at Antwerp, where he stated that the Irish Free State had the lowest incidence of crime and the highest incidence of detected crime of all the countries in attendance. After the sacking of Chief Superintendent Dave Neligan (qv) in December 1932, Coogan took over responsibility for the special branch but soon relinquished the post on the appointment (February 1933) of Eamonn Broy (qv). In March 1933 Coogan was passed over for promotion to the rank of commissioner in favour of Broy, and in 1934 was transferred to the administrative branch (1934–41). In autumn 1934 he took up the study of law and won the Swift MacNeill memorial prize and graduated BA (legal studies) and LLB (NUI) (1937). He was fluent in Irish, and among his responsibilities were the encouragement of the Irish language in the force, and the conduct of all matters relating to the Irish-speaking divisions of the gardaí in Donegal, Galway, and Kerry. An enthusiastic supporter of Gaelic games, having played for the Dublin Collegians Club and Young Irelands (Limerick), he encouraged the development of Gaelic games in the force by organising hurling and football matches.
A heavy drinker, he was forced to retire from the force in 1941, following an incident in the foyer of the Gresham Hotel when an American tourist was assaulted. Called to the bar in Michaelmas 1941, he built up an extensive practice during the short period before his entry into politics. Elected a member of Dún Laoghaire borough council in August 1942, he was a member of the borough vocational education committee from September 1942. A close friend of W. T. Cosgrave (qv), he was general secretary of Fine Gael before being elected to the twelfth dáil (1944–8) as a TD for Kilkenny. The opposition spokesman on justice, he was a member of the dáil committee of procedure and privileges. After his death during the 1948 general election campaign, in which national polling took place on 4 February, polling was postponed in his constituency of Carlow–Kilkenny. A man of striking appearance and gregarious nature, Coogan was chairman of the Kilkenny Association in Dublin. In January 1948 he contracted a chill while canvassing for his reelection. He died 22 January 1948 at the Meath Hospital, Dublin, leaving an estate valued at £211.
He married (1928) Beatrice Genevieve Toal (1906?–1997) (author of the historical novel The big wind (1969)), daughter of Patrick Toal, civil servant, of 74 Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, Dublin. She had reported on the La Mancha murders for the Empire News. The family resided at Tudor Hall, The Hill, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. They had three children, one of whom was Tim Pat Coogan (b. 1935), historian and editor (1968–88) of the Irish Press.