The Early 50s

I recollect one meeting in Drogheda in the mid-50s, looking at the 'peaceful resolution' question, which was addressed, among others, by Ciaran Mac an Fhaili, a solicitor of the republican fringe seeking a peaceful political approach; he subsequently spoke on the platform of the War Memorial Hall meeting in 1965 at which the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was founded. There were Northern speakers, who were concerned to get home in the light of day, for fear of the B-Specials and their road-blocks. I have no written record of this meeting, but I think the Quakers had a hand in it, because I remember being driven there by Erwin Strunz, an ex-Jew who had joined the Quakers; Hubert Butler(1) had rescued him from post-Anchluss Vienna. I suspect the Irish Association may also have had a hand in it, but my father was not there; Rosaleen Mills however was. The Northern speakers included Denis Barritt, which strengthens the Quaker connection.

I found among my father's papers a signed menu of a dinner held on March 7 1951 in Jury's Hotel; this was definitely Irish Association, because the names other than my father include Irene Calvert, Donal O'Sullivan, Brian Inglis, Owen and Andree Sheehy-Skeffington and Rosaleen Mills. There are other names which are either illegible or whose significance I don't recognise: Alan Dempsey? B Berthon Waters? JM O'Curry? SJ Bourke?

On the whole however the early 50s seem to have been a bad time for the IA, and perhaps the lack of record is simply due to the impossibility of organising events in the context of the 1950s IRA campaign.

The Kilkenny Debate

The motion "that the best interests of 'Ulster' lie with the United Kingdom" was proposed by Col WWB Topping, then Chief Whip of the Stormont Unionist Party, supported by William Douglas OBE, the Party secretary. Sean MacBride led the opposition, supported by Eoin (the Pope) O'Mahony. Professor Myles Dillon from the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies was in the chair.

The local organisation of the event was in the hands of the Kilkenny Debating Society, which was a subsidiary body of the Kilkenny Arts Council. One can here also see the local influence of Hubert Butler(1).

Col Topping, speaking as an Ulsterman, an Irishman and an Orangeman, listed some reasons why the price of losing the UK connection was seen as too high. He homed in on the hypocrisy of the official Irish language policy: the Dail Debates were printed in both languages but only indexed in English. Free trade with the UK for manufactured goods was important to them as an industrial economy. Farmers had guaranteed prices within the UK. Government orders for ships and aircraft were supplied. The 'Eire' government was dominated by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, as evidenced by the 1951 'mother and child scheme' of Dr Noel Browne, and the oppressive censorship of books and films. All this did not prevent the two parts of Ireland from being good neighbours.

Sean MacBride mentioned the higher level of tax in the North, and insisted that there was a mutually exclusive choice between being British and being Irish. He stressed the linguistic diversity of many European states. He mentioned the common problem of Irish-owned assets abroad, with lack of investment in Ireland; this was substantial and common to both parts of the country. He suggested that the Government in Britain would be unlikely to enact legislation unapproved of by the Church of England, and that the C of E had been responsible for deposing their King. He questioned the level of tolerance in a society which allowed slogans like 'to hell with the Pope' to be written on walls.

William Douglas praised the economic record of the North, mentioning newly set-up firms like Courtaulds and Dunlop. The only place in the English-speaking world where the State aided Roman Catholic schools was Northern Ireland. He quoted Cahir Healy the Nationalist MP in support of the non-existence of discrimination in housing.

The 'Pope' O'Mahony(2) argued for north-south agriculture-industry interaction as the route to prosperity, and pointed out that a new 'Ulster Plantation' was going on, with all people in key leading positions increasingly being English, especially in the university system, with Ulster intellectuals leaving to take up posts in Britain.

In the context of the motion 'that the Society was worthy of support' JJ referred to Kilkenny as the Athens of Ireland; he mentioned Lord Charlemont his predecessor as President, and his own Presidency, of the Irish Association, and the role of that body in encouraging mutual understanding and goodwill.

Mary O'Malley, a Nationalist member of Belfast Corporation and a member of the Irish Association, gave clear evidence of discrimination in housing against Catholics, and referenced censorship on the part of the BBC regarding the Special Powers Act.

Arnold Marsh(3) pointed out that 75% of Ulster industry was foreign-owned and that they had thrown away their independence.

From the PRONI archive, and from JJ's papers

18/9/56 Irene Calvert to Jack Sayers ed Belfast Telegraph; JJ's articles on 'agricultural anaemia' is being re-published in the Statist next week; wants the BT to reprint them. His paper to the Belfast IA planned for November 12 1956 was based on these articles.

8/11/56 JJ has in his papers a letter from Irene Calvert, relating to JJ's paper to be delivered in Belfast. It is pinned to a full copy of the November paper; the version given here is a summary.

30/11/56 returns draft MS; Sir GL 'thinks they are simply splendid'.

3/12/56; JJ is in Grattan Lodge, near Nenagh; there is a reference to his grandchild (RJ's daughter Una, born in November 1956); petrol situation (Suez crisis); JJ has to use the train.

23/1/57 JJ asks for Larmour's introduction to his 1957 pamphlet 'The Sickness of the Irish Economy'. He is looking for industry sponsorship, and got some from Gentex in Athlone as well as the Ulster Weaving Co, which is Larmour's firm.

14/2/57 correspondence with Sir GL re his introduction; will support the publication with an advertisement.

12/4/57 IC to JJ; wants Parkside press to publish the 3 prize essays, targeting the Cork AGM. She encloses BT cuttings re JJ's pamphlet.

Box 6 has the record of the 1956 essay competition. The judges were Patrick Browne the UCG President, CF Carter the QUB economic professor, and TW Moody, TCD modern history. The topic was to examine the extent to which the prosperity of Ireland was influenced by Partition. Both the Topic and the judges suggest JJ's influence in the setting up of the competition.

The first prize went to William Ward, 23 the Rise, Mount Merrion; there were two equally ranking seconds, GC Duggan and TG Millar. The William Ward one was printed, and there is a substantial supply of unsold copies in Box 8, along with copies of the printed bulletin.

It is not clear why the Association did not take steps to see that this material was distributed to libraries and to schools. There is absolutely no reason to keep it 'confidential', on restricted access in the NIPRO. I find this incomprehensible. I have rescued from this limbo copies of nos 9 and 10 of the bulletin, from 1947; there is no mention of JJ's Presidency in either of these issues, though there is reference to Lord Charlemont's resignation. I have also rescued a copy of the Ward essay; a suitable place to publish it would be in the archive section of the IA web-site, and I hope to be able to achieve this. The essence of the Ward message was a call to decentralise Government from Dublin and develop a federal or cantonal political system.

The list of people who contributed essays included John Montague the poet, Joe Cole and the Rev Amphlett Micklewright. The latter two were from England. I mention them because I happen to know them; the first is a journalist with a background in the left-wing youth movement in Dublin in the late 40s, and the second is or was a regular contributor to, and supporter of, the Irish Democrat, the London Irish emigrant progressive paper, edited by Desmond Greaves. So the competition must have attracted interest from a wide range of citizens concerned with the analysis of the effects of Partition.

There are reports in Box 6 for 1954 and 55, in which there is no mention of JJ. The material seems to be uniquely related to the Northern Committee. There are files of letters to do with membership.

There are files of Presidential correspondence for 55, 56, 58, 59; this was during Sir Graham Larmour's time. Dempsey succeeded him in 1963, and there is a file of Dempsey material. There are files of Charlemont letters. But no record of JJ. I feel I must register the existence of a prima facie case for the existence of an attempt to expunge from the record the key episodes of JJ's Presidency. Who would have wanted to do this, and why? He did not retire from the presidency in disgrace, as evidenced by his post-Presidential correspondence with Sir Graham Larmour. But why should there be no record in the NIPRO of the historic events in Kilkenny in 1954, which was, perhaps, the crowning event of JJ's active and eventful Presidency?

It seems he also brought Northern Ireland visitors to see the Bord na Mona installations in the midlands, and they were impressed. He was undoubtedly making the case for an all-Ireland approach to economic development. There is no reference in the NIPRO archive to any of JJ's activities during his Presidency. This question must remain on the agenda.

Notes and References

2. Eoin ('the Pope') O'Mahony was an itinerant Cork barrister, who knew, or appeared to know, the seed, breed and generation of everyone in Ireland. He was good company, a great conversationalist, and in demand for public occasions. He had played a role in the campaign for the release of the IRA prisoners in the late 1940s.

3. Arnold Marsh wrote a book entitled 'Full Employment in Ireland' in or about 1946; he was influential in the Labour Party at the time.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999