Editing Seán Lemass (section)

==Legacy==
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2008}}
Lemass remains one of the most highly regarded holders of the office of Taoiseach, being described even by later [[Fine Gael]] [[Taoiseach|Taoisigh]] [[Garret FitzGerald]] and [[John Bruton]]<ref group="note">Bruton hung a picture of Lemass, as well as [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] leader [[John Redmond]], in his office.</ref> as the best holder of the office, and the man whose cabinet leadership style they wished to follow. Some historians have questioned whether Lemass came to the premiership too late, arguing that had he replaced de Valera as Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach in 1951 he could have begun the process of reform of Irish society and the industrialisation of Ireland a decade earlier than 1959 when he eventually achieved the top governmental job. Others speculate whether he had been able to achieve some of his policy reforms he initiated in the 1950s precisely because de Valera was still the leader, his opponents being unwilling to challenge him given that he appeared to have de Valera's backing.

What is not in doubt is that Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass held diametrically different visions of Ireland; de Valera's was of a pastoral rural-based society "given to frugal living", while Lemass had a vision of a modern industrialised society, a member of the European Community. Lemass's coolness towards the revival of the [[Irish language]] and intellectual agnosticism also contrasted with de Valera's passionate Gaelicism and commitment to traditional Catholicism.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/lemass-kept-agnostic-musings-and-religious-faith-strictly-private-1.128823|title=Lemass kept agnostic musings and religious faith strictly private|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=9 September 2019|archive-date=16 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116040512/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/lemass-kept-agnostic-musings-and-religious-faith-strictly-private-1.128823|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Lemass quotations===
* '[[Fianna Fáil]] is a slightly constitutional party...but before anything we are a [[Irish republicanism|republican]] party.' (1928)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0022/D.0022.192803210025.html |title=Dáil Éireann – Volume 22 – 21 March 1928 – PRIVATE DEPUTIES' BUSINESS. – REVIEW OF PRISONERS' CASES—PROPOSED SELECT COMMITTEE |access-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404160152/http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0022/D.0022.192803210025.html |archive-date=4 April 2009 }}</ref>
* 'A rising tide lifts all boats.' (1964, attributed to [[John F. Kennedy]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0208/D.0208.196404150045.html |title=Dáil Éireann – Volume 208 – 15 April 1964 – Committee on Finance. – Resolution No. 11—General (Resumed) |access-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404160150/http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0208/D.0208.196404150045.html |archive-date=4 April 2009 }}</ref>
* 'The historical task of this generation, as I see it, is to consolidate the economic foundations of our political independence.' (1959)
* 'First and foremost we wish to see the [[United Ireland|re-unification of Ireland]] restored. By every test Ireland is one nation with a fundamental right to have its essential unity expressed in its political institutions.' (1960)
* 'The country is, I think, like an aeroplane at the take-off stage. It has become airborne; that is the stage of maximum risk and any failure of power could lead to a crash. It will be a long time before we can throttle back to level flight.' (1961)
* 'A defeatist attitude now would surely lead to defeat...We can't opt out of the future.' (1965)
* 'I regret that time would not stand still for me so that I could go on indefinitely.' (1966)
* 'RTE was set up by legislation as an instrument of public policy, and, as such is responsible to the government.' (1966)