James Ryan (6 December 1892 – 25 September 1970) was an Irish medical doctor, revolutionary and politician who served in every Fianna Fáil government from 1932 to 1965, successively as Minister for Agriculture (1932–1947), Health and Social Welfare (1947–1948 and 1951–1954), and Finance (1957–1965).

In July 1919, Ryan married Máirín Cregan, originally from County Kerry and a close friend of Sinéad de Valera throughout her life.

In 1916 he went first to Cork to deliver a message from Seán Mac Diarmada to Tomás Mac Curtain that the Easter Rising was due to happen on Easter Sunday,[5] then to Cork again in a 12-hour journey in a car driven by MacNeill's brother James to deliver Eoin MacNeill's cancellation order,[6] which attempted to stop the Easter Rising, but then, from when he arrived back on Tuesday, served as the medical officer in the General Post Office (GPO) and treated many wounds, including James Connolly's shattered ankle, a wound which gradually turned gangrenous.

Following the surrender of the garrison Ryan was deported to HM Prison Stafford in England and subsequently Frongoch internment camp.

During the Civil War, Jim Ryan was arrested and held in Mountjoy Prison before being transferred to Tintown Camp, The Curragh where he embarked on a 36-day hunger strike.

[12] In 1926, Ryan was among the Sinn Féin TDs who followed leader Éamon de Valera out of the party to found Fianna Fáil.

[13] Following the 1932 general election, Fianna Fáil came to office and Ryan was appointed as Minister for Agriculture, a position he would continuously hold for fifteen years.

If they got people working in our own towns they would consume Irish produce," he declared at Blackwater, County Wexford calling it the idea of a cyclical arrangement.

[14] Ryan was given the task of implementing the following policies: imports of wheat, sugar and other agricultural produce were restricted; farmers were given a guaranteed price for wheat; farmers were forced to use home-produced grain in animal feed and bakers had to use a certain percentage of Irish flour in their bread; and the sugar beet industry was expanded with the opening of new factories.

Ryan faced severe criticism over the Economic War with Britain: serious harm was done to the cattle trade, Ireland's main export earner.

The economic war ended in 1938 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement between both governments, after a series of talks in London between the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, de Valera, Ryan and Seán Lemass.

A new political party, Clann na Talmhan, was established in the late 1930s to represent the interests of smaller farmers in the west of Ireland.

Following negotiations with the hierarchy, adjustments on such issues as means testing and medical inspections were made and the legislation was passed in the Dáil.

Lemass wanted to reward him for his loyalty by also naming him Tánaiste; however, the new leader felt obliged to appoint Seán MacEntee, one of the party elders to the position.

[citation needed] Ryan continued to implement the First Programme throughout the early 1960s, achieving a record growth rate of 4 per cent by 1963.