Jack Murphy (Irish politician)

Jack Murphy
Jack Murphy in late 1950s
Born	John Murphy 1920 Dublin, Ireland
Died	11 July 1984 Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Education	St Mary's National School Rathmines, Carpentry at Bolton Street Technical College
Occupation	Teachta Dála at the 1957 general election for the Dublin South-Central constituency, Carpenter
Known for	Independent politician, republican, and the first unemployed person ever elected to a national legislature.

John "Jack" Murphy (1920 – 11 July 1984) was an Irish politician and the first unemployed person ever elected to a national legislature. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as an independent Teachta Dála (TD) at the 1957 general election for the Dublin South-Central constituency.

Murphy was a former member of the Irish Republican Army who had been interned in the 1940s. At the time of his election, he was an unemployed carpenter. He was the candidate of the Unemployed Protest Committee (UPC), which had been formed on 12 January 1957. He resigned his seat on 13 May 1958 in protest at the indifference of the main political parties to the plight of the unemployed. After his resignation he subsequently emigrated with his family to Canada but returned to Ireland in 1964. He died on 11 July 1984.

Murphy was born in 1920 at the back of Synge Street, Dublin. He was the second youngest son of a carpenter and had five brothers and five sisters. His father, a well-known athlete who won the all-Ireland walking championship in 1903, was active in the republican movement and was a founder-member of the National Union of Woodworkers. Murphy joined Fianna Éireann at the age of 10. Up to the age of 14 he attended St Mary's National School, Rathmines, and then started work as an apprentice carpenter, while attending Bolton Street Technical College, now Dublin Institute of Technology in the evenings. He became a member of the Irish Republican Army at 16. He was also an active trade union member from an early age as demonstrated when, as a carpenters apprentice, he became one of the leaders of a strike on the River Liffey Reservoir Scheme (popularly known as the Poulaphouca Scheme). The strike lasted several months until only three of the original committee remained, with Murphy being one of them.