[3] He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and was mobilised in Cork in preparation for the Easter Rising in 1916.
When the Rising failed to spread beyond Dublin and some other limited actions, Fitzgerald and many of his Cork comrades was interned in Britain.
After the amnesty for prisoners he rejoined what had now become the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Cobh and also became active in the Sinn Féin party.
[6] He joined Fianna Fáil in 1926 shortly after its foundation and was to remain a prominent member of the party in the Cork area for the next 50 years until his death.
He was elected to the Irish Free State Seanad in 1934 and served until it was abolished in 1936.