Denis Allen (2 January 1896 – 29 March 1961) was an Irish revolutionary and politician.

Revolutionary period

During the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

(1919-1921), Allen was Company Captain of D Company (Kilanerin), 3 Battalion, North Wexford Brigade, IRA. In the Truce period, he claimed in his military service pension file that he was promoted to Battalion Intelligence Officer at the time of the IRA split in March 1922 and Battalion Quartermaster from May 1922. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

(1922-1923), Allen claims that he took part in several armed operations against National Army troops. Allen was arrested by the Free State on 4 August 1922; escaped from the Newbridge Camp, County Kildare on 15 October 1922; was re-arrested by the authorities on 20 October 1922 and escaped again on 19 November 1922 from Wexford. He was captured again in December 1923 and finally released in June 1924. In 1926 Allen was the Officer Commanding the North Wexford Battalion of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

. Allen applied to the Irish government for a service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 and was awarded 4 and 7/12 years service in 1943 at Grade D for service with the IRA between 1 April 1920 and 30 September 1923. Irish Military Archives, Military Service (1916-1923) Pension Collection, Denis Allen, MSP34REF24833

Politics

Allen was an unsuccessful candidate at the June 1927 general election, but later that year at the September 1927 general election he was elected to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

as Fianna Fáil

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

(TD) for the

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

constituency. He was re-elected at the 1932 general election, but lost his seat at the 1933 general election. He returned to the

8th Dáil 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 17 August 1936, following the death of the

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

TD Osmond Esmonde, and returned at each successive election until his death in office in 1961. No

was held for his seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Denis 1896 births 1961 deaths Fianna Fáil TDs Members of the 6th Dáil Members of the 7th Dáil Members of the 8th Dáil Members of the 9th Dáil Members of the 10th Dáil Members of the 11th Dáil Members of the 12th Dáil Members of the 13th Dáil Members of the 14th Dáil Members of the 15th Dáil Members of the 16th Dáil 20th-century Irish farmers