by Gary Murphy
The depoliticisation of interest-group politics, as seen in the formal-isation of relations between the Fianna Fáil Government and the NFA, can be viewed as an example of how far Lemass had gone in attempting to create new political relationships and structures in the Ireland of the 1960s. In that, it was a triumph of visionary leadership.
1 Nevin interview.
2 This figure is given in NAI, DT, S.16474A, criticism of Economic Development by Departments of Health and Industry and Commerce, with details of disparity between Ireland and Britain, 4 July 1958.
3 See Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe; Peter Katzenstein, Small States in World Markets (Ithaca, N.Y., 1985).
4 Girvin, ‘Trade Unions and Economic Development’, p. 124.
5 For a detailed analysis of the split in the trade union movement, see Charles McCarthy, Trade Unions in Ireland, 1894–1960 (Dublin, 1977), p. 229–80; see also Donal Nevin, ‘Decades of dissension and divisions, 1923–1959’ in Nevin (ed.), Trade Union Century, pp. 94–6.
6 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 1) 7331, ‘Attitude of the trade unions towards the European Free Trade Area’, n.d., but by context mid-1957.
7 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 1) 7331, ‘Report on European industrial conference’, London 19–21 Feb. 1958.
8 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 1) 7331, ‘Ireland and the Free Trade Area’, 16 July 1957.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 1) 7331, ‘Statement by Laurence Hudson, president of PUTUO, at Jury’s under auspices of Chartered Institute of Secretaries’, 21 Mar. 1957.
13 See Francis Devine, ‘“A dangerous agitator”: John Swift, 1896–1990, socialist, trade unionist, secularist, internationalist, labour historian’, Saothar, no. 15 (1990), pp. 7–19; see also John P. Swift, John Swift: An Irish Dissident (Dublin, 1991).
14 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 1) 7331, John Swift to secretary of PUTUO, 12 Aug. 1957.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid. See also Swift’s memorandum to the secretary of PUTUO on ‘Proposed Free Trade Area in Europe’, 7 Mar. 1957. Nevin, ‘Decades of dissension and divisions’, p. 96.
17 Nevin, ‘Decades of dissension and divisions’, p. 96.
18 McCarthy, Decade of Upheaval, p. 24.
19 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 42 (part 2), meeting with the Taoiseach 1959, 3 Sept. 1959.
20 Girvin, ‘Trade Unions and Economic Development’, p. 125.
21 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 42 (part 2), ICTU proposed meeting with Taoiseach – meeting of Resident Committee, 24 Aug. 1959.
22 Address by Pádraic O’Halpin entitled ‘An authority for the mechanical engineering industry’, 3 Apr. 1959. I would like to thank Joseph McCullough for supplying me with a copy of this paper. It can also be found in NAI, ICTU Archive, box 43 (part 2), economic committee, 4005/B.
23 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 42 (part 2), meeting with the Taoiseach, 1959, 3 Sept. 1959.
24 Whitaker interview.
25 Girvin, ‘Trade Unions and Economic Development’, p. 126.
26 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 42 (part 2), speech by Lemass at Inchicore on state development activities, 4 July 1959.
27 Whitaker interview; Murray interview.
28 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 2) 3810, meeting between representatives of Congress and FII, 10 May 1956.
29 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 2) 3810, J.J. Stacey, director-general of the FII to Ruaidhrí Roberts, joint-secretary of ICTU, 14 Mar. 1960. The comment ‘not acceptable’ is written in the margin of the letter in the file.
30 The report of this conference was published in Irish Industry, the journal of the FIM, vol. 25 (Mar. 1957). The anti-free trade speaker was James Boylan. Domhnall McCullough was the other speaker.
31 Irish Industry, vol. 25, no. 3 (Mar. 1957), p. 25.
32 Irish Industry, vol. 25, no. 2 (Feb. 1957), p. 3.
33 Barnes interview.
34 J.I. Fitzpatrick, ‘Ireland and the Free Trade Area’, Christus Rex, vol. xii, no. 3 (July 1958), pp. 200–1.
35 Federation of Irish Industries, annual report, 1959, quoted in NAI, DT, S.15279B/1.
36 Tonge is quoted in the Irish Press, 27 Jan. 1960.
37 J.C. Tonge, ‘Irish industry in the EFTA era’, The Statist, 19 Mar. 1960, p. 19.
38 Barnes interview.
39 Tonge, ‘Irish industry in the EFTA era’.
40 Ibid.
41 Barnes interview.
42 NAI, DT, S.2805F/64, R.C. Owens, Carley’s Bridge Potteries, Wexford to An Taoiseach, 29 Jan. 1960.
43 NAI, DT, S.17046A, Taoiseach’s address to the Federation of Irish Industries’ national export conference, 16 Jan. 1961.
44 Federation of Irish Industries, European free trade and the prospects for Irish industry, Sept. 1959.
45 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 41 (part 1) 7331, meeting between Department of Industry and Commerce and Provisional United Trade Union Organisation, 8 Jan. 1958.
46 Garret FitzGerald, All in a Life: An Autobiography (Dublin, 1991), p. 59.
47 FitzGerald is quoted in C. Brock, ‘The CIO Industrial Survey’, Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, vol. 21 (1963–64), p. 176.
48 The Irish Times, 6 July 1961.
49 O’Rahilly interview.
50 Fitzpatrick is quoted in Hibernia, Mar. 1962.
51 Industrial Review: The Journal of the Federation of Irish Industries, vol. 18, no. 5 (Sept.–Oct. 1961).
52 Seán Hutton, ‘Labour in the post-independence Irish state: An overview’ in Seán Hutton and Paul Stewart (eds), Ireland’s Histories: Aspects of State, Society and Ideology (London, 1991), p. 63; Gary Murphy, ‘Towards a corporate state? Seán Lemass and the realignment of interest groups in the policy process, 1948–1964’, Administration, vol. 47, no. 1 (spring 1999), pp. 92–3.
53 NARA, RG59, box 1652, 740/00(W)/5–2562, Dublin embassy to State Department, 25 May 1962.
54 Lynch interview; see also Patrick Lynch, ‘1894–1994: An overview’ in Nevin (ed.), Trade Union Century, p. 169.
55 Nevin interview.
56 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 44 (part 2) 4011, ICTU Economic Committee, memorandum on the application for entry to the EEC, July 1961.
57 Nevin interview.
58 Barnes interview.
59 NAI, DT, S.16877Y/62, meeting between the Taoiseach, the Minister for Industry and Commerce and the Federation of Irish Industry, 8 Jan. 1962.
60 Confidential source.
61 Joseph McCullough interview.
62 Domhnall McCullough interview.
63 NAI, DT, S.17120A/62, meeting between the Taoiseach, the Minister for Industry and Commerce and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, 11 Jan. 1962.
64 Hibernia, Jan. 1962.
65 ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Cork, July 1961, p. 256; ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Galway, July 1962, p. 227.
66 ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Galway, July 1962, p. 227.
67 NAI, ICTU Archive, box 44 (part 2) 4011, ‘ICTU policy statement on entry to the EEC’, July 1962.
68 ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Galway, July 1962, p. 235.
69 ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Cork, July 1961, p. 269.
70 ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Killarney, 1963, p. 278.
71 NAI, ICTU archive, box 43 (part 2), consultative conference – ‘Free trade and industrial reorganisation’, 4011/A, 22 Mar. 1963.
72 ICTU, Congress Archive, annual conference, Killarney, 1963, p. 278.
73 NAI, ICTU archive, box 43 (part 2), consultative conference – ‘Free trade and industrial reorganisation’, 4011/A, 22 Mar. 1963. Lemass is quoted as speaking on 25 Feb. 1963. No place is given.
74 NAI, ICTU archive, box 43 (part 2), consultative conference – ‘Free trade and industrial reorganisation’, 4011/A, 22 Mar. 1963.
75 Committee on Industrial Organisation, final report (Dublin, 1
965).
76 Conroy is quoted in the Irish Press, 10 July 1963.
77 Gary Murphy, ‘Fostering a spurious progeny?’ The trade union movement and Europe, 1957–1964, Saothar, vol. 21 (1996), p. 69.
78 For an authoritative account of Clann na Talmhan, see Tony Varley, ‘Farmers against nationalists: The rise and fall of Clann na Talmhan in Galway’ in Gerard Moran and Raymond Gillespie (eds), Galway: History & Society (Dublin, 1996), pp. 589–622.
79 Lee, Ireland 1912–1985, pp. 72–73.
80 Maurice Manning, ‘The farmers’ in J.J. Lee (ed.), Ireland 1945–1970 (Dublin, 1979), p. 48.
81 John P. Gibbons, ‘The origins and influence of the Irish Farmers’ Association’, PhD thesis, University of Manchester, 1990, p. 113.
82 Manning, ‘The farmers’, p. 53.
83 Louis P.F. Smith and Seán Healy, Farm Organisations in Ireland: A Century of Progress (Dublin, 1996), p. 52.
84 NAI, DT, S.16405, speech by Greene to NFA members in Kildare, n.d., but by context Feb. 1958.
85 John Horgan, Seán Lemass, p. 235.
86 NAI, DT, S.16405, Greene to de Valera, 1 Mar. 1958.
87 NAI, DT, S.16405, speech by Ryan to Fianna Fáil cumann in Wexford, 28 Feb. 1958.
88 The Irish Times, 1 Mar. 1958.
89 Interview with Louis Smith.
90 NAI, DT, S.16405, Greene to Smith, 17 Sept. 1959.
91 Nagle to the author, 28 Feb. 1995. I interviewed J.C. Nagle in his house on Winton Avenue a number of times before his death, and we corresponded about this period.
92 This description is cited in Mary E. Daly, The First Department: A History of the Department of Agriculture (Dublin, 2002), p. 343.
93 NFA Quarterly Supplement, Sept. 1959.
94 Ibid.
95 Ibid.
96 Nagle interview.
97 NFA Quarterly Supplement, Sept. 1959.
98 NAI, DT, S.16405, Smith to Greene, 25 Sept. 1959.
99 Nagle interview.
100 NAI, DT, S.16405, Smith to Greene, 25 Sept. 1959.
101 Nagle to the author, 28 Feb. 1995.
102 NAI, DT, S.16405, Smith to Greene, 25 Sept. 1959. The Farmers’ Journal had a two-page slot for NFA news in every edition. This consisted mostly of addresses and comments made by NFA officers. These speeches were routinely critical of the Department of Agriculture and general Government policy with regard to the agricultural industry, and Paddy Smith complained of the ‘almost constant abuse and misrepresentation’ emanating from it. A further problem for Smith and his officials was that many farmers believed that the Farmers’ Journal was an official organ of the NFA, an idea from which, Smith argued, it never seemed to dissociate itself.
103 Louis Smith interview.
104 NAI, DT, S.16405, Smith to Greene, 25 Sept. 1959.
105 Ibid.
106 Seán Moylan was briefly Minister for Agriculture between March and November 1957. Dermot Keogh has speculated that just hours before his untimely death, he had resigned over a major policy issue. This was never made public, and I have uncovered no other evidence to substantiate this claim. See Dermot Keogh, Twentieth Century Ireland: Revolution and State Building (Dublin, 2005), p. 240.
107 NAI, DT, S.16405, Smith to Greene, 25 Sept. 1959.
108 NAI, DT, S.16719, NFA memoranda to the Department of Agriculture to defray costs of attending conferences, various dates in 1959.
109 Louis Smith interview.
110 Whitaker interview, Nagle interview.
111 NAI, DT, S.16877Y/62, NFA statement on entry to the EEC, 20 July 1960.
112 D.J. Maher, The Tortuous Path: The Course of Ireland’s Entry into the EEC, 1948–73 (Dublin, 1986), p. 120.
113 Nagle interview.
114 NAI, DT, S.16877Y/62, Department of Agriculture memorandum, Ireland and the EEC, Aug. 1960. The six and seven referred to the economic blocs that existed in Western Europe. The six (EEC) consisted of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. The seven (EFTA) consisted of Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.
115 NAI, DT, S.16877G, memorandum on Ireland’s trade relations: prospects for agricultural trade, 8 Nov. 1960.
116 Ibid.
117 Juan Greene, ‘The next ten years in agriculture’, quoted in Department of Finance, D.306/10/61.
118 NAI, DT, S.16877G, meeting between the Taoiseach, the Minister for Agriculture, the Minister for Industry and Commerce, and the NFA, 20 Dec. 1960.
119 Ibid.
120 NAI, DT, S.16877X/62, Whitaker to Minister for Finance, 5 Jan. 1962.
121 NAI, DT, S.16877W, memorandum for the Government: application for membership of the European Community, 8 Jan. 1962.
122 Dáil Debates, vol. 185, cols. 560–1, 1 Dec. 1960.
123 NAI, DT, S.16877X/62, Lemass statement to the Council of Ministers, 18 Jan. 1962.
124 Deasy is quoted in The Irish Times, 11 Jan. 1962.
125 Farmers’ Journal, bimonthly supplement, 20 Jan. 1962.
126 Daly, First Department, p. 379.
127 DF, D.306/10/61, draft observations on NFA demand for larger share of national income for agriculture, 14 Dec. 1961.
128 DF, D.306/10/61, J. Horgan, Central Statistics Office, to C.H. Murray, Department of Finance, 5 Sept. 1961.
129 DF, D.306/10/61, Nagle to Whitaker, 16 Dec. 1961.
130 DF, D.306/10/61, Department of External Affairs, comment on NFA memorandum on farmers’ incomes, 26 Nov. 1961.
131 NAI, DT, S.11563C/62, meeting between the Taoiseach and the NFA, 16 Mar. 1962.
132 Ibid.
133 Irish Press, 12 Jan. 1962.
134 Lemass is quoted in the Irish Press, 12 Jan. 1962.
135 Irish Press reported on 12 January 1962 – the day after the NFA annual convention – that the farmers planned ‘aggressive action’ in their campaign for a balancing of incomes. See also Deasy’s interview in The Irish Times, 10 Mar. 1962.
136 NAI, DT, S.11563C/62, Lemass to Smith, 2 Mar. 1962. The ‘impractical totals’ referred to the NFA’s demand for an £83 million subsidy.
137 NAI, DT, S.17313A/62, speech by Taoiseach at Muintir na Tíre rural week, Scoil Ailbhe, Thurles, 14 Aug. 1962.
138 For an analysis of the Government’s co-opting of industry into its political strategy for entry into the EEC, see Gary Murphy, ‘Government, interest groups and the Irish move to Europe: 1957–1963’, Irish Studies in International Affairs, vol. 8 (1997), pp. 57–68.
139 Healy is quoted in The Irish Times, 11 July 1962.
140 Both Deasy and Smith were given space in the April 1962 edition of Hibernia to put forward their views on the agricultural situation.
141 Irish Independent, 13 Apr. 1962.
142 NAI, DT, S.11563E/62, meeting between the Taoiseach and the NFA, 6 Apr. 1962.
143 Irish Press, 11 Apr. 1962.
144 Connacht Tribune, 18 Aug. 1962.
145 Alan Matthews, ‘The state and Irish agriculture, 1950–1980’ in P.J. Drudy (ed.), Ireland: Land, Politics and People (Cambridge, 1982), p. 244.
146 NAI, DT, S.17543A/63, Lemass to Smith, 5 Nov. 1963. Lemass was telling Smith of a meeting with Deasy at which he expressed these views.
147 Maurice Manning, The Blueshirts (Dublin, 1986, 2nd edn.), p. 57.
148 Ibid., p. 30.
149 Dáil Debates, vol. 206, col. 1219, 12 Dec. 1963.
150 NAI, DT, S.17543A/63, Smith to Lemass, 20 Nov. 1963.
151 Lemass’ memorandum is quoted in Gibbons, ‘The origins and influence of the Irish Farmers’ Association’, pp. 156–57.
152 Joseph Robins, Custom House People (Dublin, 1993), pp. 151–2.
153 Smith’s resignation letter is reproduced in Brian Farrell, Chairman or Chief? The Role of Taoiseach in Irish Government (Dublin, 1971), pp. 66–7.