The Business and Professional Group (also known as the Businessmen's Party) was a minor political party in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

that existed between 1922 and 1923. It largely comprised ex- Unionist businessmen and professionals.Barberis, McHugh and Tyldesley (2005), p. 206 It fielded five candidates in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

at the 1922 general election. One candidate,

Michael Hennessy Michael Joseph Hennessy was an Irish politician and businessman. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Businessmen's Party Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork East and North East at the 1922 general election. He was elected as a Cumann na nGa ...

, was elected. At the 1923 general election, company directors John Good and William Hewat were elected in Dublin under the label of Businessmen's Party.

Andrew O'Shaughnessy Andrew O'Shaughnessy may refer to: * Andrew O'Shaughnessy (politician) (1866–1956), Irish politician and businessman, independent TD for Cork Borough 1923–1927 * Andrew O'Shaughnessy (historian) (born 1959), British historian * Andrew O'Shaugh ...

and Richard Beamish were elected under the label of ''Cork Progressive Association'' (CPA). Both CPA members however sat in the Dáil Éireann as

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

and in 1924 both took the

Cumann na nGaedheal Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party. Origins In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...

party whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

.John M. Regan, ''The Irish Counter-Revolution 1921-1936'', Gill & Macmillan, 1999, p. 223 The group's support base was largely

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

; its policies were pro-

Treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pe ...

and pro-economic orthodoxy, including low taxes and the

Treasury view In macroeconomics, particularly in the history of economic thought, the Treasury view is the assertion that fiscal policy has ''no'' effect on the total amount of economic activity and unemployment, even during times of economic recession. This v ...

. It did not contest any general elections after 1923.

General election results

References

Sources

* Political parties established in 1922 Defunct political parties in the Republic of Ireland 1922 establishments in Ireland Political parties disestablished in 1923 1923 disestablishments in Ireland {{Republic-of-Ireland-party-stub