Irish history Synopsis: Creating the Republic

Irish History Synopsis: Creating the Republic

After the War came to an end the world recovered from its inicial euforia. A realization of the terrible cost of the walking dead, refugees, survivors, soldiers, children, old people, death and starvation stalked the continent.
Fighting continued unabated in the Pacific until the Atom Bombs, Little Boy and Fat Boy brought the Japanese God Hirohito to accept the terms of surrender and sue for peace.

The world, was as Sean O Faolain put it, 'dulled, bewildered deflated'.
Anger, vengance and sadness mingled together in the air.
A sence of callous consern ,mingled with a desire to scream.
But all carried on.

The governments released price controls and prices rose.
The governments released rent controls. Rents rose.
Petrol became available.
Unused vehicles began a slow pace across the unused roads.

The Fiana Fail government applied in 1946 for membership in the United Nations. This was blocked by the Soviet Union and Ireland was not admitted till 1955.

The rural population of Ireland did not return.
An urban idea had been planted in the minds of the young.
They wanted Things, Joy for the Future.

Those who had jobs overseas retained them.
Emigration continued.

The Irish Women Wokers Union called a strike for better hours and a week holiday for laundry workers.
Fiana Fail was intent on backing the employers against these demands.
Lemass refused the strikers permits to go to Great Britain for work.
However, the labor unions backed the strikers and after a long strike the employers finally conceded a fortnight holiday and shorter hours.

Following this settlement. 1000 farm labourers went out asking for a 48 hour week and a 14 shilling wage increase.
They asked farm products be boycotted by shoppers and overturned trucks full of market bound goods. Tyres were punctured.
Finaly the big farmers accepted the worker demand of a 48 hour week and a weeks holiday and a higher wage rate.

In 1946 teachers struck for higher wages.
FF resisted this strike.

Many of the FF TD's had passionate feelings for the teachers especially those representing rural districts where teachers were held in high respect and in high social status and influence.
At the Ard Feis in October resolutions were introduced to arbitrate the strike but the Cabininte held on and the teachers at the urging of Archbishop McQuaid ,returned to work with no gains.

In August of '46, 600 labourers struck, demanding benefits.
The farmers fought back by sending 'flying columns' from other areas brought in to break the stike and save the harvest.
The Garda had to be called out to protect the strike breakers.
The Catholic Standard claimed the strikers were 'Red' and attempting to create class warfare in the countryside.
The laborers however held out creating the FRW [ Federation of Rural Workers] of 17,000 workers by 1947.

Inflation took hold rising some 31%.
FF raised consumer taxes and removed the sur tax on profits.
Strikes became common with some 89% of the unions income spent on these work stoppages.

The Irish worker was angry and discontent.

A flour mill threat of strike in May '47 caused FF and the Cabinet to threaten iniciation of an Emergency under the Special Powers Act of 1926.

The Dial upheld this request and three days later the Cabinet were given powers to prohibit participants in anys strike or lock out, in effect barring strikes.
Defiance was met with a daily fine and prison for 6 months at hard labour for the union officials.Irish Unions] caused the flour mill strik to be called off.

Road and turf workers went on strike against fixed wages imposed by FF at farm labor rates.
Ff seemed to uphold an idyllic view of a rural worker being maintained in his cottage frugally providing for himself by his thrifty use of the plot around his cottage.

These rural workers were not allowed to be employed at a wage higher than the farmers were willing to pay so the farmers could obtain for their use the best men.
This system is exactly the system used in rural life prior to the Famine where tenants lived idylicly in their cottages on the estate providing for their family with the thrifty produce of their plot of land.

The Bog workers continued a sit in against Bord na Mona until a wage increase was won.
Road workers struck.
The insurance workers struck Irish Life.
Dublin wholesale drug trades struck.

In September of '47 the bus workers struck, 2500 strong ,demanding a 40 hour work week and a 30 shilling wage increase.

The new ATGWU [Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union] competed with the old ITGWU for loyalty of the many strike factors.









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ESB [Electrictiy Suppy Board] workers struck.
Irish Railwaymens union wanted a two day general strike against government policies.
the Irish Times printed in 1947 that Irish society was 'drifting toward anarchy'. Farmers and others feared the tide of communism which was seen as being harbored in such organizations.
The Federal Union of Employers denounced Moscow, the World Federation of Free Trade Unions, the United Nations and International Labor organzations as 'fanning the flames of class war'.

By October '47 a by election with candidates from a new party Clann na Poblachta founded by Sean McBride ex IRA chief of Staff, combined a new republican effort with old Fiana Fail Republicanism united with
Coras na Poblacta ,lead by Simon Donnelly and Sean Dowling, a party of old systems republicanizm, which saw FF as a bertrayal of the IRA and Fine Gael as a hated pro treaty faction.
Clann na Poblachta won the Dublin seat at the bi election and continued to win support calling for social reform and old radical republicanism.
The party however did not live up to its social reform rhetoric in practice.

FF had been in power for 15 years. Along with its hostility towards union action for workers scandals were frequent. The party and government members were accused of fraudulantly selling whiskey ,had plans for taking over the Great Southern Railway,was implicated in bacon sales fraud to the army.These scandals weakened FF's position in the eyes of the voters.
An October '47 supplimental budget introducing new taxes further weaked the FF votor perception of its consern for them.
Prices remained high with a ractionary protest mounted by housewives associations.

Emmigration continued.

In the general election of February 1948 FF retained only 68 seats.
The election Act of 1947 had increased constituancies from 34 to 40.
The new vote went to Clann na Poblachta which won 10 seats.

Because of proprtional representation FF could not form an independant government.
A coalition of parties resisted helping de Valera form a new governement.
Fine GAel, Labour, National Labor, Clann na Poblachta, Clann na Talmhan [Farmers Party]
and Independants, united. Their combined parties represented right, center, left and extremist views amalgamated against the constitutinal Sinn Fein radicalism represnted by Fianna Fail.
This amalgamation of parties rather than form a governemnt with FF formed in 1948-49 an Inter Party government which united the right Fine Gael with the left radical Clann na Poblachta and the Labor parties formerly linked to Fianna Fail.
Rank and file were against forming a government with Labour.
The ITGWU threw in with the Interparty coalition forces.

In early autum 1948 legislation was put before the Dial to repeal the 1936 External Affairs Act which had put Ireland in the Commonwealth of Nations and abolished the Crown of England as head of state.

FF opposed the legislation to create Eire[ or as they tendered it the Free State] a Republic on grounds that breaking the commonwealth link would make reintigration of the partitioned 6 counties harder.

During this period the new PM of Erie John Costello traveled to Canada to attend a state dinner and make a speech before the Canadian Bar Association in Ottowa.
On Sept 1 1948 Costello spoke declaring the 1936 External Relations Act as full of inacuracies and infirmities.

A mystery surrounds this announcement out of the blue in a foregin country as to why this announcement was made.

There have been contradictory statements made over the years including FG memiors as to his motivation in making his declaration before the world audience
before the legislation was presented in the Dial.
Some believed his wife had been insulted by the Premier at a state dinner or that he hismself had been angered by a snub by the Premier MacKensie King in offering a toast to the King but none to his guest from Eire.

As the hard core republicans had been advocting a republc for years it is just as sensible to believe that a deal had been made between FG and the Inter Party coalition about to take power to complete the national desire of the 1916 Easter Proclamation.

The new Inter Party Dial met on February 18, 1949 with John A Costello, former Attorney General for Cumman na nGaedheal as Taoiseach with Norton of Labour Taniste;
Sean Mc Bride Clann na Pblachta External Affairs

Five Ministrys were in the control of FG, Finance, Justice, Industry and Commerce, Education and Defence.
When the extrnal relations /reubublic legislation was finaly passed with FF support and the new Republic was proclaimed on April 18 1949, Easter.
De Valera stayed away from the flag raising cerimony at the General Post Office to innagurate the Republic stating his objection to the new state being declared for only 26 counties of the Free State not all Ireland.

As soon as the Republic was offically declared and the new nation taken out of the commonwealth the British Parliament passed its own Ireland Act preserving the right of the north to remain in the UK unless its Parliament of North Ireland consented to join the Republic.

The measure was passed by Parliament in 3 days and recieved the Royal Assent. George VI sent a personal message to the Irish governement wishing the Republic well.

This provision to uphold the unionist Stormont Parliament right to retain partition caused much consern in the new southern Republic which accused the English Labour government of 'maintaining British occupation'.

The Imperial Parliament extended British citizenship to the Irish as a non foreign people. Britsh citizenship was still a right of the Irish nation both north and south.


Sean T O Kelly who had been elected President of Eire in 1945 ,replacing Douglas Hyde who had been elected when the state of Erie was creatd in 1937, became the first President of the new Republic of Ireland and remained so until 1959.
The Presidents resided in the old Vice Regal House in Phoenix Park in the north of Dublin which is still used by government as the offical residence of the President of Ireland called in irish
Aras an Uachtarain.

Judi Donnelly
Copyright October 2 2007


sourses: Fiana Fail and Irish Labor, Kieran Allan, Pluto Press 1997
Ireland Since the Rising, TP Coogan, Frederick Praeger Publishing, 1966
Wikipedia Internet Encyclopdia