Introduction
David Thornley (31 July 1935 – 18 June 1978) was an Irish Labour Party politician and university professor at Trinity College Dublin.
Life
Born in Surrey, England, David Thornley took out Irish citizenship. He received a BA and PhD at Trinity College, Dublin. His PhD was entitled "Isaac Butt and the creation of an Irish parliamentary party (1868–1879)" and was written under the supervision of Theodore William Moody. He was appointed Associate professor of Trinity in 1968. by then he had been working as a presenter on 7 days since 1963. In 1964 he published the book Isaac Butt and Home Rule.
After joining Labour in 1969 he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency at the 1969 general election. He confronted the party leader Brendan Corish, who at the time of the Arms Crisis reportedly rejected out of hand any suggestion of military aid or use of force after the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland.
Thornley considered himself to be "in the mould of James Connolly", being a practising catholic, Marxist and republican.
In December 1972 he called for the immediate release of Seán Mac Stíofáin, then leader of the Provisional IRA. He was re-elected at the 1973 general election. In 1976 he voted for the Criminal Justice (Jurisdiction) Bill despite misgivings. He told The Irish Times: "When I get very depressed I drink too much. When I voted for the Criminal Justice (Jurisdiction Bill) I went on the batter for a forthnight [sic]." He lost his seat at the 1977 general election. In 1978 he joined the newly formed Socialist Labour Party stating that he had done so because: "There is no man in politics that I respect more than Noël Browne, despite our occasional differences. If the SLP is good for him, it's good enough for me".
Death and legacy
Thornley in 1978 in County Dublin, aged 42, from undisclosed causes. The Trinity College Labour Branch is also known as the David Thornley Branch.