Clann na Talmhan [ˈkʰl̪ˠan̪ˠ n̪ˠə t̪ˠal̪ˠuːnˠ] (English: Offspring of the Land), abbreviated CnaT, was an Irish agrarian political party active between 1939 and 1965.
Clann na Talmhan was founded on 29 June 1939 in Athenry, County Galway,
in the wake of the breakdown of unification talks between the Irish
Farmers Federation (IFF) and representatives of farmers in Connacht
on the rate-paying issue. While the IFF supprted full derating, the
western view was that the largest farmers should not be relieved of all
their rate-paying obligations. Were this to happen, indirect taxation
would inevitably increase and small farmers and workers would find
themselves appreciably worse off.
The party was led initially by Galway farmer Michael Donnellan.
Its foundation represented a revival of agrarian politics in Ireland;
from 1922 to 1933, a series of parties had represented farming
interests, namely the Farmers' Party and the National Centre Party.
However, these groups mostly attracted large farmers in the east. In
contrast, Clann na Talmhan appealed explicitly to the more numerous
small farmers of the west of Ireland. The party's objectives included
the promotion of the interests of small farmers, call for government
support for land reclamation, lowering of taxes on farmland, a more
progressive system of land rates which would help small farmers and more
intensive afforestation. During the 40's it began to adopt Social Democratic
policies. It was a supporter of free secondary education and subsidized
university education as well as state investment in a public healthcare
In contrast to the earlier Farmers' Party, Clann na Talmhan
emphasised grass-roots campaigning and political agitation. It also
developed an efficient electoral machine largely due to the advice and
skills employed from former members of Fianna Fáil. Although the party was hindered to a degree by wartime
restrictions on public meetings and the press the party did have five
years to prepare for its first election. Clann na Talmhan first entered
national politics when it contested the 1943 general election. On that occasion, the party won ten seats. This was reduced to nine at the 1944 general election. Donnellan resigned as leader following the election and was replaced by Joseph Blowick, another western farmer.
The party became a prominent participant in the first inter-party government (1948–1951), with Blowick serving as Minister for Lands and Donnellan becoming a Parliamentary Secretary. The party also went on to become a component of the second inter-party government,
with Blowick and Donnellan reprising their ministerial roles. However,
this period saw a retrenchment rather than expansion of the party, which
did not expand its support beyond western and southern small farmers.
Like their spiritual predecessors, Clann na Talmhan could not unite
small and large farmers in one party, and this restricted its electoral
The party began to lose its position after being in government, as people again began to vote for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
rather than small parties. A lack of improvement in the economy also
lead to disillusionment with the party. During the 1950s many activists
had departed and the party became little more than a collection of
personal electoral machines. By 1961, Donnellan and Blowick were the
only party TDs
remaining, and the party ceased to exist as an organisation independent
of those men. When Donnellan died in 1964, his son was elected, but for
Fine Gael rather than his father's party. Blowick decided not to
contest the 1965 general election, and the party was formally wound up.