BRISCOE, ROBERT

BRISCOE, ROBERT (1894–1969), Irish politician and communal leader who was the first Jewish member of the Irish Dail (parliament) and the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin. He was active in the struggle for Irish independence. From 1917 to 1924 he served in the Irish Republican Army and was sent to the United States to secure financial and moral aid from Irish Americans. He sat in the Dail as a member of De Valera's Fianna Fail Party from 1927 to 1965. From 1928 he was a member of the Dublin Corporation (city council), serving as mayor from 1956 to 1957 and 1961 to 1962. Briscoe was an active supporter of the Revisionist movement and a member of the executive of the New Zionist Organization. He gave support to the activities of the Irgun Ẓeva'i Le'ummi\>\> , which utilized his experience of clandestine paramilitary strategy in Palestine. Briscoe was also active in Jewish affairs and was president of the Dublin Board of Sheḥitah. His son Benjamin was elected to the Dail in his father's constituency after the latter's retirement from politics in 1965 and also served as Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1988. Briscoe wrote his autobiography For the Life of Me (1959). After his death, a Robert Briscoe Award was created to honor Jews who helped Ireland or Irish immigrants to the United States. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Keogh, Jews in Twentieth Century Ireland (1998), 88–90, index.