Imprisoned during the War of Independence, Peadar Cowan accepted the
Anglo-Irish Treaty and served as an officer in the Irish army until
1931. While based in Athlone, he became involved in the Westmeath Gaelic
Athletic Association. After retiring from the army, he became involved
in fringe politics before joining the Labour Party and was an
unsuccessful candidate for election to Dáil Éireann in the
Meath-Westmeath constituency. He resigned from the Labour Party in 1944
and founded the short-lived radical socialist Vanguard organization. He
was also involved in the Republican Prisoners' Release Association and
was a founder member of Clann na Poblachta in July 1946. He retained his
seat as an independent in 1951 and supported Fianna Fáil in the vote to
form a new government. Cowan was unconditional in his support of Noel
Browne and his doomed Mother and Child Scheme. In his second term in the
Dáil, he was a lone voice when he raised the issue of institutional
abuse. Cowan's personal and professional life unravelled in the late
1950s, he served a prison sentence and on his release wrote Dungeons
deep, an analysis of the Irish prison system.