In his classic political science work on Irish elections, Cornelius O’Leary contends that the general election for the fourth Dáil in August 1923 was the first since 1910 ‘to be held in what approximated to normal political conditions’.2 While such an observation was possible with the benefit of hindsight, few contemporaries in 1923 would have agreed. Given that the election took place just three months after the end of the Irish civil war with the Irish Free State still on a war footing, the campaign was inevitably dominated by the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, fratricidal conflict, and the future political and social stability of the state. As Michael Laffan has observed, the government campaigned ‘on a “safety first” programme, associating itself with Ireland’s independence and democracy’.3 Bill Kissane goes further by suggesting the government’s chief ploy was ‘to frighten the voters’ into thinking that their interests and the safety of the state were at stake.4 The outgoing government was powerfully endorsed by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the vast majority of Catholic clergy. At its most fundamental, at issue for churchmen was the need to uphold the authority of the state, to safeguard the stability of the political system, to place the arduous task of national reconstruction in capable hands, and to ensure that justice and peace would prevail after the sufferings of the civil war. Bishop Michael Fogarty of Killaloe claimed that ‘the issue really at stake in this election is national safety or national death’.5 The Catholic hierarchy and clergy were remarkably active during the election campaign. They championed the record of W. T. Cosgrave’s ministry and encouraged the electorate to pass a positive verdict on it.