After several attempts, in 1944 Walter became a TD (member of parliament) in the 12th Dáil. He was elected with 7,705, or 20.43% of votes to represent Cork Borough.
In the 1945 and 1946 Thom’s Directories we can see Walter listed under the Members of Dáil Eireaan. The Taoiseach was Éamon de Valera.
In 1946 a new party, Clann na Poblacta formed. [1] With a similar background to Fianna Fáil it began to make inroads into Fianna Fáil’s republican support (Ryle Dwyer, 2001). It won two byelections. Jack Lynch, a future Parliamentary Secretary, Minister for Education, Minister for Industry and Commerce, Minister for Finance and Taoiseach was then added to the Fianna Fáil ticket in 1948 in the five seat Cork borough constituency for the national election. Jack Lynch’s popularity made him a welcome inclusion for the party, though not necessarily to his running mates who included Walter.
Glen Rovers hurling club, of which my HYLAND great uncles were a part, came out in support of Jack, a club hero, rather than Fianna Fáil in general, causing tension with the other candidates.
Jack Lynch came in second in the Cork constituency, the first of the Fianna Fáil candidates. Walter was sixth out of 16 candidates, losing his seat (Keogh, 2010). It was not a good election for Fianna Fáil, which had by then been in power for 16 years. They retained only two of the Cork seats, and lost their majority in the Dáil, replaced by a coalition of six parties and a number of independents.
The Irish Examiner carried a notice of thanks from Walter on Tuesday, February 10, 1948:
In the Members Database of the Tithe an Oireachtais, Houses of the Oireachtais, it is recorded:
Walter stood again for the Dáil in 1951 but was not elected.
[1] Clann na Poblachta was a short-lived, small republican political party which challenged Fianna Fáil. Its success in the 1948 election resulted in the formation of the first coalition government with two of its members, leader Sean McBride and Dr. Noel Browne as Ministers.
[2] I haven’t discovered what a Board of Assistance Warden was yet.
In Search of Thomas Davis 