MacNeill, John (Eoin) (1885-1945)

Irish scholar and politician. He was minister of finance in the first Dáil (Irish parliament) in 1919 and minister for industries 1919-21. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioning Ireland, and was minister of education in the first Executive Council of the Irish Free State 1922-25. He was Free State delegate to the Boundary Commission 1924-25, which shattered nationalist hopes of a revision of the border with Northern Ireland, and MacNeill resigned rather than accept its verdict.

In 1913 he inspired and led the Irish Volunteers, but the organization was taken over by John Redmond, who persuaded most of its members to support the Allies in 1914. He was unaware of the existence of the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), and IRB manipulation steered the remaining Volunteers towards rebellion in 1916, without MacNeill's knowledge. He reluctantly accepted the insurrection, but countermanded it when it became clear that German aid would fail.

Born in Glenarm, County Antrim, and educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast, MacNeill was an authority on Old Irish. He was professor of Early Irish history at University College, Dublin, 1908-45, and his pioneer work in Irish history asserted the strength of its legal and cultural civilization.