John Deasy (1856 – 24 February 1896)[1] was an Irish nationalist politician whose career ended in scandal after nine years as a Member of Parliament (MP).
He was first elected to the United Kingdom House of Commons as an Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) MP for Cork City, taking the seat at a by-election on 23 February 1884 after the resignation of John Daly.
[2] At the 1885 general election, he stood in the new West Mayo constituency, winning the seat by an overwhelming majority (of 4,790 to 131 votes) over his sole opponent, a candidate of the Irish Conservative Party.
When the party split on the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell in 1891, he joined the majority Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation.
Lewis testified that Deasy had pulled her onto the bed and tried to kiss her, but was interrupted by her employer, Mrs Kate Edith Postlethwaite (the landlady, who also gave evidence).