Speeches of Seán Lemass as Taoiseach

This paper reports on the speeches of Seán Lemass as taoiseach research project which was conducted as part of the UCD Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive (IVRLA) series of demonstrator research projects. From his appointment in 1959 until his retirement in 1966 Seán Lemass spoke about his plans and policies in a variety of public venues and to a range of different audiences, thoughout Ireland, Europe and the United States. These public speeches, which articulate his evolving thinking on economic and social policies in Ireland and on changing international relations, are an invaluable resource. The remit of the IVRLA demonstrator projects was to provide digital research resources and to show how digital repositories could not only provide access to archival research materials, but could also present material in new ways and suggest possibilities for further research. This project did so by compiling a catalogue of Lemass’s public speeches and making this available through the IVRLA, thus providing a valuable resource for scholars of both politics and history. This paper gives an overview of Seán Lemass’s career, discusses the important features of his public speeches, explains the sources consulted, and reports on the process of designing an appropriate catalogue. It concludes with suggestions for how this and similar projects could be developed in the future.