Though Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TDs abstained, Morrissey and his 16 Labour Party colleagues attended and became the official opposition.

The Executive Council sought to establish military courts that were empowered to impose sentences – including capital punishment, without appeal – in response to IRA violence.

Motivated by two recent murders in his constituency,[1] Morrissey broke ranks with Labour, who thought the measures too authoritarian and voted for the bill, resulting in him being expelled from the party alongside Richard Anthony.

[6][7] He was re-elected as an Independent at the 1932 general election, before joining Cumann na nGaedheal (which became Fine Gael in 1933 after a merger).

He proved to be an active Minister, establishing Córas Tráchtála and the Industrial Development Authority as well as nationalising CIÉ.

In Professor Tom Garvin's review of the 1950s News from a New Republic, Morrissey comes in for praise as a moderniser and the instigator of the Industrial Development Authority.