On Monday, Septembér 13th, Ireland was restored to the enjoyment of its daily metropolitan newspapers, and its people were more fully informed of their country's affairs than they had been either through the new (improved) United Irishman or through the state radio of TV systems, or through the local newsheets, or, if especially fortunate, through all these media, The people of Ireland will find that their ignorance has given to their Government the opportunity at least to begin the final surrender of their economy to the British interest.* There have occurred also other events of importance.
Primary among them are the reactions of the two opposition parties to the "Second Act of Union" (as it has been dubbed correctly). Naturally, Labour's attitude is the better; Brendan Corish has stated unequivocally that he is opposed to the scheme. Unfortunately, he is apparantly not backed by a united party opposition being led, it seems, by Seamus Everett, "father" of Dail Eirann, and ex-leader of the right-wing breakaway National Labour Party of the 1940s; the dissidents have managed to force the Party's Administrative Council to pas on the subject a non-committal motion, asking merely for an Oireachtas debate before any final decision on the matter, But this line is exactly that of Liam Cosgrave, the leader of Fine Gael.» He is in a difficult position since 1949, when his party's coalition Taoiscach, John A, Costello, renounced membership of the Commonwealth. Fine Gael has > existed as a party of right-wing republicanism; of a contradiction in terms, in facts now the contradiction is exposed: Irish capitalism can survive successfully only at the expense of the Irish Republic. It may mean the break up of the party, but Irish history shows that Providence seems to tend to protect fools, drunkards and Fine Gael.
Meanwhile anyone who is interested should write to Labour MPs and point outs}
(1) That Lemass has no electoral mandate for his Free Trade Area proposals; and
(2) that the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Area, must, on account of the subservient and ineffecient nature of the Irish bourgeoisie, develop quickly into another form of neo-colonialism,
Another less important, but still significant, event occurred when Clann na Poblachta was finally disbanded in its twentieth year of life, and with one remaining T.D. iittle need be said of its history; enough that it once beat Labour as the leader of the urban workers, and that it has reluctantly supplied the latter party with many of its best members thereof (not least being Dr. Browne and Senator McQuillan). The Clann's dissolution will no doubt encourage more of its members to join Labour; whether thier numbers will include its deputy, Sean Tully, is doubtful. He sits for County Cavan, a small farmer constituency, and the fate of Jack McQuillan, in the similar County Roscommon, shows what happens to small farm Labour TDs; the Party can only strive to improve its image with the small farmers, The question remains: what will become of Sean MacBride, leader of Clann na Poblachta? Until recently, he seemed to anticipate a return to politics and he is not so old that this can be counted out. However, his actual entry into the Labour Party would not be a wholly happy event as his character is not such as to make for harmony in a movement. Yet perhaps one may hope that, in the 19th Dail, and if Labour gains seats in the local elections, the party may send MacBride to the Seanad, not as a politician, nor as an ex-gunman, but as the distinguished lawyer that he is, with an excellent record on civil liberties,
Ireland..e..scontinued
The end of the printing strike seems to foreshadow the end of another matters Griffith Barracks (a building named, incidentally, after the most reactionary of the leaders of the successful national revolt) is the centre where the Dublin Health Authority houses those who are homeless through no fault of their om. As such, it has been run for some 2$ years, The inmates pay a smaller rent that they would anywhere else; in return they are limited to wives and children (husbands are only allowed in on prescribed visiting hours) who are fenced behind barbed wire and suffer considerable overcrowding, filthy conditions, some bullying from the staff,
A fuller account can be obtained from the Sinn Fein United Irishman (September issue; box 187, Dublin, for details) which does not discuss, however, the reason for the existence of this new-style workhouse, Put baldly: landowners can get more money from selling to firms building offices than either to supply sites for housing schemes or to keep letting existing houses at reasonable rents, This is only the beginning; with the ready conniv= ance of the Department of Local Government and of the Fianna Fail-dominated Dublin Corporation, large areas of the middle of Dublin have been bought up by foreign property companies, who have schemes for rebuilding their areas with skyscraper office blocks and as few houses as possible. Since much of central Dublin (notably the Aran Quay area, on the North side of the Liffey) is still inhabitated, this will entail further evictions, of which the evictees may find homes in a possible housing scheme four miles outside, However, the office boom may not reach this extreme, as we already see such miniscrapers as Liberty Hall (new centre of the ITGWU) where several floors are vacant; on the other hand, as it seems that a member of Government Departments may take lodgings in some of these proposed buildings and thus enable the landlords to avoid paying rates on them, the boom may continue. In short, the land trade in Dublin is a seller's market and well the seller knows it.
However, as more families had to go to Griffith Barracks, conditions deteriorated and the inmates! patience (and even more, that of their husbands) declined, On August llth, 36 adults (husbands and wives) and 51 children barricaded themselves in the canteen, After 16 days, a slowly dwindling number (due to disease) and a refusal by the Health Authority to accept their basics demand for family unit in better conditions, were forcibly evicted. Upon this event,18 families moved across Dublin to Mountjoy Square where they have camped ever since in tents provided by well-wishers,
From that day nightly public meetings have been held, the Sinn Fein movement supported the families, Labour did so also, though its greatest support came from the two TDs immediately concerned, Dr. John O'Connell, who has done, so far, a considerable amount to fill the gap left by Noel Browme and in whose constituency Griffith Barracks lies, and Michael O'Leary, the enigmatic young Deputy in whose constituency Mountjoy Square is. Public opinion (at first hostile to people said to be "jumping the housing list") swung to support the families, due to the generally correct analyses of the situation made by such men, On September 2nd, the Dublin Health Authority voted to accept the families demand only to be ruled our of order by its Chief Executive, %'Keefe, During the next week the printing strike ended and Fine Gael concluded that the families had a good case. On 11th September, the Fianna Fail Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eugene Timmons, promised to endeavour to obtain a caravan site for the families, But pressure cannot be reduced, For one thing, where is the site going to come from? and will the Corporation be prepared to pay the priceP