1934, his position was retitled Minister for Lands as responsibility for fisheries was transferred to the Department of Agriculture, in exchange responsibility for forestry, and he oversaw increased planting throughout the state. He ceased being a Minister with the abolition of the Seanad. From 1936 until 1950 he served as Chairman of the Office of Public Works (OPW), initially focusing on arterial drainage. In September 1939 he was appointed Controller of Censorship by de Valera. He acted in this role for two years until September 1941 serving under his former Cabinet colleague, Frank Aiken. He was based at Upper Yard, Dublin Castle and would in time be the subject of criticism from Opposition politicians and the press as lacking the necessary objectivity, discretion, tact and judgment for such a position. Similar criticism would also be levelled at Aiken. Connolly argued for a strict censorship to prevent any comment that favoured either the British or German forces. This power extended to the press and to the reporting of Dáil speeches. Connolly was highly zealous at his work and his chief opposition came from The Irish Times newspaper and its editor, R. M. Smyllie, and the Fine Gael TD, James Dillon who both viewed Connolly as an Anglophobe. He resumed his work in the OPW in 1941 and retired from the Civil Service on 19 January 1950 when he was sixty-five. He wrote a number of plays including The Mine Land and Master of the House. Connolly also served as a director of The Irish Press newspaper for a time. He died in 1961, one day before his seventy-sixth birthday. References 1885 births 1961 deaths Fianna Fáil senators Ministers for Agriculture (Ireland) Communications ministers Members of the 1928 Seanad Members of the 1931 Seanad Members of the 1934 Seanad Politicians from Belfast Irish businesspeople Irish diplomats Ireland–United States relations Irish expatriates in the United States Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates 20th-century Irish businesspeople