Seán Tubridy

John Andrew Tubridy was born in 1897 at Galway, County Galway, to Patrick Tubridy (1869–1920) and Jane Waldron (born 1868). He had only one sibling, Mary Margaret Patricia (born 1903). Seán's father was from Kilmurry Ibrickane, County Clare, and his mother from Kilkelly, County Mayo; the two were Gaeilgeoirí and had moved to the Irish-speaking area of Connemara to teach at the Scoil Mhic Dara in Carraroe. They worked with Roger Casement and helped to set up a fund for free school dinners there. The two had a feud with a priest by the name of Fr. Healy and were attacked from the pulpit, but they received support from local parents.

Tubridy was a medical practitioner who fought against the epidemics of cholera, typhus and the Spanish Flu in Connemara. He married a Dublin woman by the name of Kathleen Moira Ryan, daughter of Hugh Ryan, the Professor of Chemistry at University College, Dublin. The youngest of their three children[1] was a son Patrick Tubridy, who married Catherine Andrews, the daughter of Todd Andrews, a prominent former member of the Irish Republican Army. Patrick himself had several children, including the broadcaster Ryan Tubridy.[2]

Tubridy was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway constituency at the June 1927 general election.[3] He was re-elected at the September 1927 general election but lost his seat at the 1932 general election. He stood unsuccessfully at the 1933 general election but was elected for the Galway West constituency at the 1937 general election.[4] He was re-elected at the 1938 general election, but died during the 10th Dáil in July 1939. The by-election caused by his death was held on 30 May 1940 and was won by John J. Keane of Fianna Fáil.

• Michael G. Tubridy

• My Story: Ryan Tubridy at RTÉ
• Ryan Tubridy discovers ancestor’s letter to Roger Casement at Irish Times