Members of the Eighth Dáil - Patrick Daly

Patrick Daly was an Irish politician, vintner and farmer. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Cumann na nGaedheal Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork East constituency at the 1933 general election. He was elected as a Fine Gael TD for the Cork North constituency at the 1937 and 1938 general elections. He lost his seat at the 1943 general election.

Members of the Eighth Dáil - William Desmond

William Desmond (died 5 September 1941) was an Irish Cumann na nGaedheal and Fine Gael party politician.

A hotel proprietor, Desmond was first elected to the 7th Dáil in the 1932 general election for the Cork Borough constituency, where his party colleague W. T. Cosgrave (the President of the Executive Council) topped the poll.
He was re-elected at the 1933 election, but lost his seat at the 1937 general election, when the constituency was reduced from a 5-seater to a 4-seater. He then retired from politics.

William Desmond was Lord Mayor of Cork for the term from 1940 to 1941.

Members of the Eighth Dáil - Seán O'Grady

Seán O'Grady (1 December 1889 – 7 April 1966) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was unsuccessful when he first stood as a candidate for Dáil Éireann at the June 1927 general election, but was elected as a Teachta Dála for Clare at the 1932 general election. He was re-elected at every election until he lost his Dáil seat at the 1951 election. He failed to be re-elected again in his final attempt in 1957. O'Grady was only a few months in the Dáil when he became a Parliamentary Secretary. Over the next sixteen years until 1948 O'Grady served in a range of positions as Parliamentary Secretary, including Lands & Fisheries, Defence, Industry & Commerce and Finance.

Members of the Eighth Dáil - Michael Sheridan

Michael Sheridan (died 6 July 1970) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and farmer. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan constituency at the 1933 general election. He was re-elected at each subsequent general election until 1961, when he retired from politics.

The Political Parties of Ireland - National Centre Party

The National Centre Party, initially known as the National Farmers and Ratepayers League, was a short-lived political party in the Irish Free State. It was founded in December 1932 with the support of several sitting TDs, including the four Farmers' Party members and thirteen Independents, all of whom feared for their political future if they did not coordinate in a common organisation. Prominent among the latter were party leader Frank MacDermot, a TD for Roscommon since the general election of February 1932, and James Dillon, a TD for Donegal, who was the son of John Dillon, the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.

The party's policies included the establishment of a central bank (at this time, the Free State was still part of the sterling area, and the Bank of Ireland served as lender to the government), deflation through pay cuts, protectionism, an end to the Anglo-Irish Trade War and the removal of rates on agricultural land. The party was strongly opposed to Fianna Fáil, despite apparent similarities of policy, perhaps because most National Centre Party deputies represented rural constituencies. Fianna Fáil, with its strength among small farmers and increasing popularity among the rural middle-class, was the most obvious threat to a rural-based party at this time.

In the general election of January 1933, the new party won eleven seats. During this election, the party's opponents in Fianna Fáil disrupted National Centre Party meetings, often with the assistance of the prohibited Irish Republican Army. These incidents contributed to the rise of the Army Comrades Association, which was formed to protect the establishment conservative parties from the perceived threat of political violence. Fianna Fáil formed a majority government after the election. During the first Fianna Fáil government, the National Centre Party aligned with the largest opposition party, Cumann na nGaedheal, on almost all issues of political or economic importance. However, Frank MacDermot rejected a suggestion that the two parties should merge.

The opposition parties united in mutual self-defence when the government banned the Army Comrades Association in August 1933. The two parties and the ACA merged to form Fine Gael in September, just eleven months after the formation of the National Centre Party. Although MacDermot became a Vice-President of Fine Gael at its foundation, he differed from most of his party colleagues on issues such as the degree of emphasis to be given to Ireland's membership of the British Commonwealth. He ultimately resigned from the party, to sit as an Independent.

Members of the Eighth Dáil - Patrick Gregory McGovern

Patrick Gregory McGovern (1875 - February 7, 1949) was an Irish politician. He was born in Clarbally townland near Bawnboy, County Cavan, the son of a farmer. He attended Bawnboy National School. In 1909 he married a Miss McManus and had ten children, seven sons and three daughters. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1933 general election as a National Centre Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan constituency. He was re-elected at the 1937 general election for the same constituency as a Fine Gael TD. He was defeated at the 1943 general election.

Members of the Eighth Dáil - James Pattison

James P. Pattison

James P. Pattison (28 June 1886 – 31 December 1963) was an Irish Labour Party politician. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann on his second attempt at the 1933 general election for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency.

In 1944, the Labour Party split and Pattison became a member of the new political movement, the National Labour Party. The split was healed when new party merged with the Labour Party in 1950.

When the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency was split at the 1937 general election, Pattison was re-elected in the new 3-seat Kilkenny constituency. He retained that seat through three more general elections, and was returned again for Carlow–Kilkenny when the constituency was recreated for the 1948 general election.

However, he lost his Dáil seat in the 1951 general election to the former Fianna Fáil TD Francis Humphreys, but regained it at the 1954 general election. He was defeated again at the 1957 general election, again by a Fianna Fáil candidate, and decided to retire from national politics.

His son, Séamus Pattison, was elected at the 1961 general election and is a former Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.