Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1920
Achieving independence
The politician will answer that Self-Determination is perfectly possible in Ireland provided the British Government will concede to reason or expediency. That reply, however effective it may appear as a political declaration, does not carry us far.
We have to face things as they are, not as we would wish them to be. And as international relations stand, Britain is unlikely to permit Ireland to self-determine itself out of the British Empire. The pairing can only be severed by a war in which Britain is beaten to her knees.
The world has had enough of war for some generations to come, and although we may have a seething cauldron in Eastern Europe for many, many years, it is a remote contingency that the nations will enter upon anther conflict in the interests of Irish Self-Determination.
But there is a way by which Self-Determination can be applied with the consent and good-will of the British Parliament. Sir Horace Plunkett, fresh faced from a prolonged visit to the United States, has outlined his plan for the operation of Self-Determination in Ireland in an important interview which we publish on the opposite page.
It is proposed that a constituent assembly should be elected upon the principal of proportional representation by the people of Ireland, and that that assembly should meet to determine the future government of this country, the British Parliament binding itself to give legislative effect to any agreement arrived at.
Terrific explosion
On Thursday night an extraordinary occurrence took place at Ballinagar police barracks, situated about two miles from the village of Abbey, between Loughrea and Portumna.
The barrack is located in a lonely part of the county and occupied by seven constables, with Sergeant Murphy in charge. On the evening in question a fire of turf was put down in the day-room and immediately one of the constables saw a peculiar glare.
He gave the alarm and the men rushed out, when immediately a terrific explosion occurred. The grate was blown to atoms and the walls surrounding were shattered, making a wreck of the interior. Around the walls and woodwork were found embedded some steel ball bearings similar to those used in bicycles. None of the police was injured.
The turf used was only delivered at the barracks that day, and it is alleged it was charged with gelignite fuse and percussion caps.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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