[2] His father, James Sweetman, was a practising barrister, and the family's return for the 1911 census shows that they employed three servants at their Lower Baggot Street home.

[2] James' brother,[4] Roger Sweetman, was elected to the First Dáil representing Wexford North and was one of the first TDs to publicly call for a negotiated settlement to the Irish War of Independence.

This coalition represented an 'anybody-but-Fianna-Fáil' gathering from across the political spectrum, and the newest Kildare TD sat on the backbenches until the government fell in 1951.

In Professor Tom Garvin's review of the 1950s 'News from a New Republic', he comes in for praise as a moderniser and Garvin places him with a cross-party group including Daniel Morrissey of Fine Gael and William Norton of the Labour Party as well as Seán Lemass of Fianna Fáil who were pushing a modernising agenda Sweetman also served as a member of Kildare County Council, including a term as chairman of the Council in the late 1940s.

[9] On 30 May 1956, Sweetman's greatest initiative as minister was the appointment of a 39-year-old civil servant named Ken Whitaker to the position of Secretary-General of the Department of Finance.

Upon the retirement of Richard Mulcahy as leader of Fine Gael, Sweetman played a significant role in James Dillon's campaign to become the party's latest leader, fending off both John A. Costello and Liam Cosgrave, opposing the former due to his failure to commit to the role full-time and the latter due to antagonism between the two while in government.

However, the support of Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald ensured that the document was adopted as the party's manifesto for the 1965 general election, with Sweetman, Dillon and the rest of the conservative wing capitulating after realising they were outnumbered.

According to Magill, his plan was to install Tom Fitzpatrick, a moderate figure acceptable to both Fine Gael's liberal and conservative wings, as an interim leader, until Sweetman's preferred candidate, John Kelly was elected to the Dáil.

Speaking at the first session of the Dáil that followed, Taoiseach Jack Lynch offered a sincere and moving tribute to the late Deputy.

He spoke of a TD who "commanded respect and attention", especially in matters of finance; a "gifted parliamentarian who loved the cut-and-thrust of debate" and who was as "fair an opponent as he was formidable".

He noted a career cut short: "Through his tragic and untimely death, Dáil Éireann and Irish public life have suffered a grievous loss.