Editing Liam Cosgrave (section)

===Political beginnings===
[[File:Liam Cosgrave and Dockrell 1948 election pamphlet.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A pamphlet from the 1948 Irish general election promoting Cosgrave]]
To the surprise of his family, Liam sought election to [[Dáil Éireann]] in the [[1943 Irish general election|1943 general election]] and was elected as a [[Teachta Dála|TD]] for [[Dublin County (Dáil constituency)|Dublin County]] at the age of 23,<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite news|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=6544|title=Liam Cosgrave|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=26 May 2010|archive-date=21 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221164315/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=6544|url-status=live}}</ref> sitting in the [[11th Dáil]] alongside his father [[W. T. Cosgrave]] who was one of the founders of the [[Irish Free State]] in the 1920s. Cosgrave rapidly rose through the ranks of Fine Gael, and was regarded as being by far the most able and active of Fine Gael's newer TDs. His election in 1943 occurred during a long period when his party was in opposition, from 1932 to 1948.

Cosgrave wrote to the Party Leader, [[Richard Mulcahy]], in May 1947, on the poor attendance in the Dáil, and informed his leader that "I cannot any longer conscientiously ask the public to support the party as a party, and in the circumstances I do not propose to speak at meetings outside my constituency." Nevertheless, when the [[5th government of Ireland|First Inter-Party government]] was formed after the [[1948 Irish general election|1948 general election]], [[Taoiseach]] [[John A. Costello]] nominated Cosgrave for appointment by the government as [[Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach|Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach]] and Chief Whip and as [[Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment|Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce]] on 24 February 1948.<ref name=mapp>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1948-02-25/13/|title=Appointment of Members of Government and Parliamentary Secretaries – Dáil Éireann (13th Dáil) – Wednesday, 25 February 1948|access-date=29 April 2021|website=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=25 February 1948|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108142206/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1948-02-25/13/|url-status=live}}</ref> He served in these positions until the dissolution of the Dáil on 7 May 1951.