The Curious Case of the Mayo Librarian (19 page)

The doubts cast on Miss Dunbar Harrison, as to her age, experience, lack of qualifications and her inability to speak Irish, had all been answered by President Cosgrave. The political problem facing him was that while he could answer each of these accusations, he could not win over those of a paranoid disposition, who were convinced that a conspiracy was afoot. Some of the mud being flung was bound to stick.

The situation was one of stalemate. Six months had passed and there was still no sign of a solution. Commissioner Bartley administered the day-to-day business of the county, meeting with a certain amount of resistance. Letitia Dunbar Harrison worked away as librarian in the courthouse in Castlebar while the vast majority of the population of Mayo refused to have anything to do with the libraries she was running. However, after six months of relative quiet all of a sudden the controversy flared back into life.

On 17 June 1931 the political correspondent of the
Irish Independent
reported that ‘the circumstances surrounding the abolition of the Mayo County Council and the appointment of Miss Dunbar Harrison as librarian threaten to bring about the defeat of the government to-day, and to create a first-class political crisis.

‘The central figure in a situation which developed over the week-end with almost dramatic suddenness is Mr Michael Davis, chairman of the government party in the Dáil and chairman of the Mayo County Council. Very quietly … and without consulting any of his colleagues he handed in … a motion: That the Dáil declines to give a second reading of the Local Government Bill, which includes as one of its provisions a proposal to extend the power of the Minister for Local Government and public health in relation to local authorities dissolved by him until the minister takes the necessary steps to restore the Mayo County Council. The government takes a very serious view of the motion and it was specially considered by the cabinet …'

Michael Davis was called in for a special meeting with President Cosgrave and Richard Mulcahy but he was determined to hold his ground. He told the
Irish Independent
that as chairman of Mayo County Council, he felt very keenly the action of the minister in suppressing it. ‘I could not,' he said, ‘allow the opportunity which this bill presents to pass without bringing the matter up.' He regretted that circumstances should have arisen which compelled him to take this course. The Local Government Bill, 1931, set out to strengthen the power of the Minister for Local Government, enabling him to more easily dissolve county councils. The danger for the government, as the independent put it, was that on a vote, Michael Davis was ‘almost certain to take with him into the division lobby against the government two members of the government party for Mayo – Messrs M. Nally and M. Henry.'
13

The Irish Times
reported that ‘a piquant situation' had arisen. ‘Deputies of all parties,' it wrote, ‘were greatly intrigued at the situation … The probable explanation is that the government deputies from County Mayo have found it necessary, owing to local pressure, to have the question debated in the Dáil.'
14
The Irish Times
added that the two Fianna Fáil TDs, P.J. Ruttledge and Richard Walsh, had had a motion on the order paper for some time, but hadn't had the opportunity to move it.

That the Dáil disapproves of the action of the Minister for Local Government and public health in dissolving the Mayo County Council, and demands its immediate restoration.

Was this a minor mutiny or would he gain the support of other TDs from the government's backbenches? It was rumoured that other west of Ireland backbenchers might vote against the government. The
Irish Independent
calculated that, allowing for members who were ill, the government could be beaten by one or two votes. If other Cumann na nGaedheal deputies joined the revolt and Davis was successful with his amendment, it could bring down the government.

Notes

1.
Catholic Bulletin
, January 1931, vol. xxi, no. 1., p.16.

2.
Quoted by Margaret O'Callagahan, ‘Language, Nationality and Cultural Identity in the Irish Free State, 1922-1927',
Irish Historical Studies
, vol. 24, no. 94, November 1984, p.275.

3.
Dáil Debates, 1 June 1928.

4.
Mary E. Daly, op. cit., p.133.

5.
Catholic Bulletin
, vol. xxi, no. 1, January 1931, p.18.

6.
LAI Minutes Book, 1928-1931, LAI Archives, Box 3.

7.
NAI D/Taioseach S2547A.

8.
Newspaper clipping, undated, LAI Archives Box 1.

9.
Rosemary Cullen Owens,
A Social History of Women in Ireland 1870-1970,
p.265.

10.
Seán Ó Súilleabháin, op. cit., p.16.

11.
NAI D/Taioseach S2547A.

12.
Ibid.

13.
Irish Independent
, 17 June 1931, p.5.

14.
The Irish Times
, 17 June 1931, p.7.

At long last the Mayo library controversy was going to be the subject of a debate in the Dáil chambers. On 17 June, Richard Mulcahy moved the second reading of the Local Government Bill, 1931. Michael Davis then proposed his amendment, opposing the bill on the grounds that the minister should not be given any more authority until such time as Mayo County Council was restored. He outlined the background to his decision to rebel against his own party.

‘I think it will be within the knowledge of every member of the house,' he said, ‘if not within the knowledge of every individual in the Free State, that the position of Mayo County Council loomed very much in the limelight in the not-too-distant past, and I think I might place on the shoulders of the Minister for Local Government the sole responsibility for putting the Mayo County Council out of office.'
1

Deputy Davis went on to summarise the series of events that had led to the installation of Miss Dunbar Harrison as librarian. He argued that Irish had been required. ‘The Mayo County Council was dissolved,' he declared, ‘not, I am in a position to claim, for inefficiency.' He explained that the inspector sent down by the minister to investigate the state of affairs had only spent fifteen minutes at the sworn inquiry.

‘There was no question of anything being wrong,' he said, ‘it was a question of the disobedience of the council.'

Mulcahy seemed surprised at the brevity if not the tone of Michael Davis' comments. ‘Am I to understand,' he enquired, ‘that that is all the criticism that there is on the matter?'

The Ceann Comhairle then opened the debate on the amendment. P.J. Ruttledge, a Fianna Fáil TD from Mayo, expressed disbelief and cynicism as to the motives behind the actions of Deputy Davis, claiming that he himself had in fact submitted a virtually identical amendment to the Ceann Comhairle.

‘I would declare the amendment,' he said, ‘as a pretence or a sham attempt to throw dust in the eyes of the people of Mayo and at the same time to let the minister out of a difficulty. Here we have as a result of this collusion between the minister and Deputy Davis, this amendment tabled and we have the newspapers this morning scheduling it and portraying it in double-column headings as a first-class situation.'
2

Deputy Ruttledge went on to query some of the procedures used by the Local Appointments Commission in its selection of Miss Dunbar Harrison, in particular the raising of the recruitment age. He questioned the fact that ‘the lady appointed got more marks for “personality” than the others got … People who want to do it, and people who did do it, got that vague word “personality” to cover a multitude of the sins they may commit … but personality would be of very little use to Irish speakers in Mayo …'

He then spoke of the religious issue, closely echoing the words and opinions of Dean D'Alton and Canon Hegarty at the library committee meeting. ‘There is one matter that I have to speak about,' he said, ‘and I do it with considerable reluctance, for the reason that when you speak about these matters you are often likely to be misunderstood.' Deputy Ruttledge denied any sectarian bias but insisted that a 99 per cent Catholic county like Mayo was entitled to have a Catholic librarian. In this he reaffirmed the words of his party's leader, Eamon de Valera, at the public meeting in Irishtown, County Mayo, in January 1931. He outlined the series of events that had led to the dissolution of the council, paying particular attention to the role of Michael Davis as chairman of the council and as senior Cumann na nGaedheal TD for the county.

‘I know what happened subsequently when Deputy Davis came up to Dublin,' he said, ‘when he was accused by the minister of being “a weakling and a wobbler”.'

‘Will I have the right of reply to this?' asked Deputy Davis.

‘No,' replied the Ceann Comhairle.

‘I am very sorry …' persisted Deputy Davis.

‘Hold a meeting when you go home,' suggested Deputy Killilea.

‘… in Crossmolina,' added Richard Mulcahy.

‘Yes,' agreed Deputy Ruttledge. ‘Crossmolina seems to be the place where we all hold them – both sides.'

‘Let us keep to the debate here,' advised the Ceann Comhairle, ‘and not stray to the crossroads.'
3

Ruttledge continued, accusing the minister of suppressing the council and misleading the senate when he had answered questions there on 25 March 1931.

‘Gracious me!' exclaimed Mulcahy.

‘What is the good gracious about?' protested Deputy Ruttledge.

‘The minister will get his opportunity,' interjected the Ceann Comhairle.

‘If we could get more good graces in Mayo we would be better off,' murmured Deputy Ruttledge. He went on to outline the state of the library service in Mayo since the appointment of Letitia Dunbar Harrison, revealing that the vast majority of the library centres had returned their books by March 1931. He had tried in vain to get more up-to-date information.

‘I understand the Commissioner [P.J. Bartley] might be away. I believe he visits Mayo occasionally,' continued Deputy Ruttledge dryly. ‘There are books with about thirty of the 112 library centres … The fact is that only four centres are in semi-operation out of 112 in operation since last December, when the minister started this heavy hand. The people who patronise these four centres which are in semi-operation are people of a religious persuasion which is the opposite to the majority of the people of Mayo.'
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Deputy Ruttledge then brought up the difficulties faced by the various committees of Mayo County Council. Commissioner Bartley was unable to take over the duties of the Old Age Pensions Committee or the Technical Instruction Committee. From the time of his appointment technical instructors had not, and could not, be paid.

‘Perhaps the minister hoped the people of Mayo would reel under his feet,' continued Deputy Ruttledge, ‘that they would come forward and appoint committees to assist the commissioner he had sent down. He may hope as long as he likes. Until he removes the person appointed from that position, and removes the Commissioner from the office he has been appointed to as a result of refusing to appoint this lady, he may rest assured that there is no hope whatever that the priests and people are going to crumble under his feet.

‘He may be keen on dictatorship, and he may think that the people are going to give way after a time. The people of Mayo are united on this issue; they are more united than ever they have been in the history of that county before, and no attempt by the minister to trample on them, and import amongst them a person in the position of librarian who they have good reason to believe may prove a danger to the faith of the people, will succeed. They are not going to let the minister walk on them.'

Dick Walsh, also a Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo, endorsed the arguments of Deputy Ruttledge. The Vocational Education Act was ‘a dead letter' in Mayo due to the impasse created in the county by the actions of the minister.

‘He can get no man in Mayo,' Dick Walsh declared, ‘either clergyman or public man or any responsible person, to act upon the Vocational Education Committee or any committee connected with local affairs … There may be places in the County Mayo where, as a result of these vacancies remaining unfilled, people cannot get their old-age pensions.'

Deputy Walsh went on to re-iterate his stance on the issue. ‘When this question came up in the Mayo County Council,' he said, ‘I myself clearly indicated that we who are members of the Fianna Fáil Party in the council were not actuated by any question of bigotry, that we were not influenced by what I might call anti-Protestantism, that we did not object to Protestants or other non-Catholics in this country getting their share of public appointments.'

Deputy Walsh criticised
The
Irish Times
for trying to portray Fianna Fáil as intolerant because of the actions of their councillors in Mayo. ‘We are not a party of bigots,' he said. ‘But neither I nor any member of Fianna Fáil in the County Mayo or in this Dáil apologise to anybody for being Catholics or for taking up a Catholic attitude on a question of vital importance to Catholic interests. If the minister thinks he is going to cow the people and the priests of Mayo in this matter, he is making a great mistake. If he thinks he is going to gain political kudos by proving to a certain element in this country that his is the great party of tolerance; if he thinks that by creeping to certain elements in this country who are always anti-national and anti-Catholic that he is going to gain anything, and that he is going to increase prestige of his party west of the Shannon, he is certainly making a great mistake.'
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Deputy Walsh referred to the history of Mayo and its ‘very bitter memories … A large number of the small farmers of the county have not very sweet memories of those times, times when they were faced with the alternative of the roadside or of changing their religion.' He argued that the minister risked intensifying the tension and bitterness between neighbours in Mayo because of his actions. Mayo County Council had been abolished for what was only a technical breach. The inspector sent down had given the council a clean bill of health after a sworn inquiry that lasted barely fifteen minutes. Deputy Walsh then proceeded to criticise Deputy T.J. O'Connell, the leader of the Labour Party and also a Mayo TD, for not condemning Commissioner Bartley for reducing the wages of the road workers in Mayo from thirty-five shillings to thirty-two shillings a week.

‘It could happen, and you not hear it,' protested Deputy O'Connell.

Deputy Walsh then accused Richard Mulcahy of making ‘a deliberate misstatement' in the chamber. The Ceann Comhairle intervened. ‘The deputy ought not to accuse the minister,' he said, ‘or any other deputy of making a deliberate misstatement. That is a long way of using a short word. The deputy can say if he wishes that the minister was wrong in his statement.'

‘It can stand as far as I am concerned,' declared Richard Mulcahy.

Walsh went on to criticise Trinity College, despite the objections of the acting Ceann Comhairle, Mr F. Fahy, who had taken over the chair.

‘The deputy should leave Trinity College alone,' insisted Mr Fahy. ‘Trinity College is not one of the bodies dissolved.'

Nevertheless, Professor William Thrift rose to defend Trinity. Some mud slinging resulted until the acting Ceann Comhairle finally put a stop to it. ‘This is neither the time nor the place,' he said.

Deputy Michael Clery congratulated Michael Davis on his courage. ‘I am glad as a Mayo deputy,' he said, ‘that the day has come in this house when there is a question on which Deputy Davis and myself can stand shoulder to shoulder. I certainly am glad of the attitude he has taken on this question. Deputy Davis has proved to have a little manliness in him. It is about time.'
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Deputy Clery alleged that the crisis had arisen at that particular time because of the imminent South Dublin by-election. ‘The instructions to have that appointment insisted upon,' he said, ‘came to the minister from the Orange Lodges of County Dublin … and also to the instructions of
The Irish Times
… At the time he found it was politic to flout the people of Mayo, to flout the wishes of the clergy there, and to dance instead in attendance on the unionists and masons of the County Dublin, whose votes did count at the time for the minister and his party.'

Deputy Clery outlined his views regarding Richard Mulcahy's personality. ‘There was a time in the past,' he said, ‘when this self-opinionated minister, this over-rider of the people's rights, got out of his opponents in another fashion. There was a time when not abolition but execution was his method of putting his opponents aside. Now since he finds he can put them aside in another way, according to law, his method is not execution, but abolition … He believes if he had been born in this country six generations ago, this country would be a little heaven now. I believe the minister means well.'

‘It will be alright in six generations,' commented Richard Mulcahy.

‘I believe he means well,' repeated Deputy Clery, ‘but he cannot convince me he is right and 99 per cent of the people are wrong.'
7

Deputy T.J. O'Connell rose next. ‘Of the nine deputies who represent Mayo,' he said, ‘six are members of the county council and I was awaiting until these men, who are more closely associated with the matter than I, would have spoken.' Deputy O'Connell concentrated his argument on his unhappiness with the methodology that the Local Appointments Commission interview board had used. He did not address the issue of Miss Dunbar Harrison's selection directly. The Local Appointments Commission had not advertised the various county library vacancies separately nor had they held separate interviews for those different posts. In his opinion this invalidated the process and justified the council's rejection of Miss Dunbar Harrison. He also took the opportunity to defend himself against Deputy Walsh's accusation that he had done nothing in regard to the reduction in the wages of Mayo's road workers.

‘A statement was made that I,' he said, ‘as a Mayo representative, did not take any action or as the deputy said, that he did not hear that I took any action. A great many things happen about which the deputy does not hear. I have here in front of me a file of correspondence showing that so far back as the first week in April I took action in the matter.'

Deputy Hugo Flinn congratulated the backbenchers of the Cumann na nGaedheal Party. ‘While I do not wish in any way to be personal,' he said, ‘I do say that it is a very useful and a very hopeful sign, perhaps the first sign in the darkness, which we have seen for a very long time – the darkness of the backbenchers of Cumann na nGaedheal – that there is still somewhere amongst them some backbone, some remaining element of those qualities which made a man walk erect instead of creeping on his belly like a worm.'