Doc on 1 - 31jan2025

Fáilé! Fáilé! Fáilé! Good afternoon and welcome to this evening's broadcasting on Conamara Community Radio. It's the 31st of January, the last day of January today. My name is Michael Gannon and this is our documentary hour on a Friday afternoon, as usual here on Conamara Community Radio. But really nothing is as usual for the past week. It's exactly a week ago now that we were recovering, and we're still recovering from the damage of the storm that hit us the night before, Storm Eoghan. And unfortunately the radio has been off the air for most of the past week due to the fact that the whole area, the whole region, had no power for most of the time. And then when we did get power back, unfortunately, we saw the extent of our own damage and the damage done to our own transmitters. And our manager, Gráinne, and all our staff have been working very, very hard to get those, to get that damage repaired and fixed and things reinstalled. And it's going to take a while till we're back fully. For the moment, I believe we're back online, and hopefully within the next day or so we'll be back on the airwaves fully. And we look forward to that. So the week has been very tough on everybody, as we know, and it still continues to be tough. There are still places without power, and of course without internet and connectivity as well. And indeed here in Letterfrack, at about half to 3pm today, we had another cut-out for about half an hour. And hopefully that was perhaps just an interruption to the lines in order to reinstall repairs around the area. We're back now at this time, and hopefully we will stay back. We don't have any injury time sports programme for you this evening because of all the difficulties we've had over the past week. And there hasn't been a lot happening in the line of local sport over the past week. But last Saturday was one of the most significant events for Connemara sport in many a long year. And we were lucky to be able to see that on TG4. Congratulations to the players of TG4. Congratulations to the TG4 for winning the All-Ireland Junior Football Team last Saturday. And there was a fine crowd from Connemara up there. I met one man who said, I don't normally go to football games, but there wasn't a lot else to do. And I wanted to go somewhere to take my mind off all the storm damage. So we headed east and joined the hundreds, if not thousands, from Connemara. They were from every parish really. On Shatterooa, Mahidon, Listermoor, Listermullan, Rosmuck, Corn, and then Cushardica in Spitield as well. And people from this side as well. And many people who live in Dublin headed down to Croke Park to support the Galway team and the Connemara team in that game. Hard luck to the Donegal side. Fine side that lost that game. They played very well and were just really overtaken towards the end of the game. On Cataraoua, it's hard to believe really that they found themselves down in the junior divisions. A team that had a huge, huge, few glorious decades really, especially in the 90s when they were Galway senior football champions. And, of course, you had fine, fine county footballers leading them at the time. Behidzí, Sean O'Donnell, the player, Sean O'Donnell, Sean Fata, and Kevin Terry. They were all with the Galway, the great Galway teams. The Ireland winning Galway teams of that era. And with On Shatterooa. And that was their high point, I suppose, that senior club victory of 1996. Micheál O'Donnell was the captain that day. And like many teams, they have their ups and downs over the years. And very surprisingly, they slipped down through the ranks, down through intermediate and junior. But no doubt about it, now they're on the way back. And they're a great example and an inspiration to all the other clubs around Connemara. And, of course, I can't wait to see other clubs in the future. And, of course, to be able to go back to Croke Park again. But, of course, I hope to see the players back in Connemara again. And they did well. They did well. They beat the Galway, the Crieve and the Strat on them. So, well done to Connemara's captain, Rui. Now, where are we today? We're at the 31st of January. And we're on the recovery from the storm. But tomorrow is the first day of spring. And tomorrow is Máire de Bríde, St. Bridget's Day and the first day of spring. And I think I try, if I'm on the air these days every year, I really have no choice but to go to Antony O'Rastorey, the great poet. And most of us in National School learned about, learned the poetry of Antony O'Rastorey. And, in particular, his poem for this time of the year, An Istíochtainneari, and his poem about his home place, Ciledán, in Cúmdebuío. So, the song has about four different names. Some people call it Ciledán. That's what we called it when we learned it in National School. Some people call it Cúmdebuío. But that can confuse people a little bit because there's another big song called Cúmdebuío, written, I think, by a man from Inishbuffin. It might have been a Lavell. And, of course, Johnny Watkins, Láirí Mac Donnachadh, a man from Lithuania, who sings that song very often, Cúmdebuío. So, there's confusion if you use that name, I think. It's also known, quite simply, as An Istíochtainneari, after the first line of the song. And many people simply call it Óran Raftery, because Raftery, the blind poet, wrote that song, pining for his own place in County Néo, when he was rambling around the plains and the big houses and the villages of South Galway, Kiltórtain and Crachuill, where he's buried, and Gort, that whole area. So, let's have a listen now to a couple of verses of Cúmdebuío. This is Nóbhig McAndrew from Cúisleann Mhaibhí, from Castlebar. I think she's going to sing two verses of the song. There's actually nine or ten verses of this song. It's a litany of all the good things that you could possibly say about County Néo. And if you listen to the full nine verses, I don't think there's a fruit or a tree or a crop that doesn't grow in County Néo. And I don't think there's a bird on the face of the earth that doesn't sing in County Néo, because Raftery lists them all. But what we're going to do now for the first part of our documentary special this weekend, this Friday, is we're going to hear Nóbhig McAndrew sing Cúmdebuío. And then we're going to hear Seán O'Cushthaile and Síle Eoghaibhí. Síle from Dú Chomha in the Eris area of County Néo, and a great singer herself. Síle talking about the song with Seán O'Cushthaile and the students of his class. And Síle will chat for about 15 to 20 minutes to give some background to the song and to help us explain the words. So that's the first part of our documentary special this Friday afternoon. And after that, we're going to bring you the program that we had two weeks ago on the first Dáil. But we won't actually bring you the full program this week because we were interrupted last week, of course, when unfortunately we had no power. But let's go to Nóbhig McAndrew and then Síle Eoghaibhí and Raftery's Cúmdebuío. Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío Síle singing Cúmdebuío One of the parts we covered in our new song, Giléadán, is a song written by Antón Ó Raftery. The singer, Giléadán himself, was born in Giléadán. He was born and raised in Giléadán. He was born in 1977. He died in 1985. He was a minor in the family and he wasn't able to go to school. Anyway, the family had the children, the widows, or the widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. 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The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The widowers. The elected representatives of the ancient Irish people in national parliament assembled do, in the name of the Irish nation, ratify the establishment of the Irish Republic and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command. January the 21st, 1919. Never was a springtime so early. Never did the song of sweet liberty sound so clear. For in this day, in the Dublin Mansion House, the Irish Republic declared its independence to the world at the first meeting of its first parliament, the first Dáil Éireann. It was the end of a road and the beginning of a road, the realization of an old dream and the first promise of a new reality. There was 100, 300, 700 years of history in it, giving it sanction, although its immediate authority was but a few weeks old. The young men of the first Dáil, and most of them were very young, were not parliamentarians by training or tradition. When they offered themselves for election in December 1918, they were, nearly all of them, as new to politics as Sean McEntee was. It wasn't as a politician that I first entered the public scene. It was, as I said, as a member of the volunteers who, well, for the part I played, had been court-martialed and sentenced to death and then to be in servitude for life. And it was as a released prisoner that I first stood on a political platform, per se, in East Clare when Mr Dáil Éireann was selected as candidate for East Clare. I was one of those who went down and worked with him. Liam O'Brien was a candidate at the general election in Midarmar. He was one of the unsuccessful ones. He was defeated by his Unionist opponent. But there, as everywhere, it was made clear to the electors that if Sinn Féin were returned, they would not sit at Westminster, but would convene a National Assembly in Dublin. That was clear, yes, that was clear. But I'm not too certain that it was very clear about the proclamation of the Republic. You know the aims of the movement and the aims of the Dáil which were published, which have been published, the reaffirmation of the Republic of Easterweek and so on. But among other things in that was the appeal to the peace conference. And I think that was what we stressed. I know I did, and many other speakers that I knew of at the time stressed mainly in their speeches to public meetings the right of Ireland to self-determination, according to the fourteen points laid down by President Wilson, who said that all nations, small as well as great, small and weak, as well as great and strong, were entitled to decide upon their own form of government. But that was our plank. The issue we put to the people was to forget all petty local issues, to vote for the candidate who has done for that, no matter who he was or where he came from, no matter what he was like individually, and to form a big body, a unanimous call to the peace conference to allow Ireland to decide its own fate. Campaigning for such a policy was not without risks. Because there was a hostile element in the place at the time, what we used to call the separation people, who were manifest in the early elections, de Valera's own election in prayer and other elections, as to say the wives and families of the men who were at the front, and who were drawing separation allowances, who were co-announcing the separation of women. They were very hostile. They thought their husbands' future and their husbands' jobs and their own jobs were in jeopardy. And there was also, of course, those who still remain faithful to the Irish party. But broadly speaking, the people are all overwhelmingly in sympathy with the movement. This sympathy was far from evident at the time of the 1916 Rising. How had the change come about? Well, here's Ernon the Blythe, himself a member of the First Thoig. What happened was, I was through the country from the beginning of the war, and at first everybody nearly was with the parliamentary party. We found it very hard in most places to start volunteer companies, that is to say, companies of what were called the MacNeill Volunteers, because everybody believed, at first, that the war would be over soon, that the Irish parliamentary party had been right in backing the British, and that the country would get its reward in immediate home rule. Then as the war spun out, people began to be doubtful and wonder whether, after all, Britain was going to win, and wonder whether the parliamentary party would get its reward. Then the Rising came, and that produced a fantastic change from being overwhelmingly with the parliamentary party, the country turned overwhelmingly against it. I've often mentioned the case of Michal Brennan, who was arrested in Easter week in Limerick, and when he was being taken to the station to be deported to England, the soldiers had to use their rifle butts to protect him from the crowd. When we were released from Reading jail at Christmas, he went back to Limerick. When he looked out of the train at Limerick station, he saw the immense crowd and thought perhaps he ought to be making his way out by some back way. The crowd surged up, they caught him, they hoisted him on his shoulders, he was taken with 5,000 people behind him to the treaty stall. That was rather typical of what happened all over the country. In the summer after the Rising, the country changed. The country changed. How wide and how deep the change was at first is something for historians to argue about. The by-elections in 1917 were a fair indication that it was no passing mood, no mere emotional reaction. Slowly but surely, Sinn Féin was gaining the support of the mass of the people. And the colossal blunder of the British government in attempting to enforce conscription produced such a united mass of resistance that when the general election came, a Sinn Féin victory was more than likely. But few believed that it would be such a victory. When the result was announced, the parliamentary party, which had once held 85 seats, held only four. The Unionists, 26, and Sinn Féin, 73. On the 7th of January 1919, a private meeting of the newly elected Sinn Féin members was called in the Mansion House. Most of those who were at liberty came to the meeting, at which Sean T. O'Callaghan took the chair. Sean T. had already been acting as chairman of a sub-committee of Sinn Féin, nominated shortly after the election results, in order to make arrangements for the holding of a National Assembly. It was at this meeting, on January the 7th, that these arrangements were ratified. The name of the Assembly, Dáil Éireann, the date and place of the first meeting, the Mansion House, 21st of January, the agenda, were all decided upon. And it was also decided that Carl Brew, acting as deputy for Éamon de Valère as president of Sinn Féin, who was still in jail, should preside at the first day's Assembly. Two other decisions were made. One, that all the successful candidates, Unionists as well, and Nationalists as well as members of Sinn Féin, should be invited to the meeting of the Dáil. And, and this was a decision which had fateful consequences, that the Irish form of the word Republic to be used in the Dáil proceedings would not be public, but fair thought. Preparations went on until the very eve of the meeting. And on the morning of the 21st of January, what were the newspapers saying? The Irish Times said, The National Assembly of the Irish Republican Party will meet today in Dublin. We shall not try to anticipate the Irish Government's attitude this portent, but we may assume that the King's authority will be safe in its hands. Today's proceedings, apart from any question of their legality or propriety, will have much interest for Irishmen of all parties, since today Sinn Féin must tell the country how it proposes to carry out its programme, without further evasion or ambiguity. But there was cause for concern. The whole of Nationalist Ireland may well await with anxiety an official statement of the Assembly's attitude to the policy and deeds of Messrs Lennon and Trotsky. It owes this duty to all its supporters, and not least to those ecclesiastics whose example and precept helped create the National Assembly. We do not believe that any party of Irishmen, however reckless or fanatical, will occur to traffic with this hideous creed. We are confident that the men and women who voted Sinn Féin never intended to give a vote to Bolshevism. The London Times was not so confident. Irish Labour is revolutionary and avowedly Bolshevist, and nothing that Sinn Féin proposes or aims at will be objected to by Labour on the grounds of its being too extreme or illegal. The whole thing is, of course, childishly illegal, but so long as it is orderly there will be no interference on the part of the government. And at home, the Freeman's Journal saw the shadow of the Red Menace. The Red Guards were as effective as Cromwell's Slayers, and the governance that the Irish workers are asked to admire has as much likeness to a democracy and a republic as the old Venetian oligarchy did. Did these newspapers reflect popular opinion? Liam O'Brien, what was the popular mood? The popular feeling was, if you take it in three sections, there was a mass of the poor people, shall I say, who were really ignorant, who didn't know what these curious fellows were going to do. They'd elected the Sinn Féiners, so that's quite knowing, what were they going to do? And they looked on rather blankly, rather with astonishment, and only gradually came into things. There was another element, of course, which as I mentioned before was hostile. These are not only the Irish party, but of course the unionist element in the country. But probably there was a mass of people who knew what they had done, who definitely decided to support Sinn Féin and vote Sinn Féin, and they were impressed by the historicity, by the solemnity of this occasion. But this, they knew, they realised, was a big historical moment, it was a great big bit of past, with the Irish party, with the attendance of Westminster, with the past from Parnell, and in fact with the past going back to O'Connell, the whole 19th century nationalist element in the House of Commons. That was a big thing, to end that completely and start this national parliament at home without waiting for England's permission. Of course there was a smaller element, and these were the faithful old Sinn Féiners, who had read Arthur Griffith, and who knew that that was his policy, the policy of holding an abstention first, and then a national assembly, which would, in every way it could, set out to take the government of the country out of the hands of the administration in Dublin Castle. The 21st of January 1919 was a day of many memories. One of those who remember it is Seán Óg Ó Ceallaigh, then a boy of ten. His father, and that's why he's called Seán Óg, his father, Seán Óg Ceallaigh, better known as Schillig, was one of Karl Brewer's closest associates, and was himself deeply involved in the doings of the day. He was, yes, and he was one of the few deputies who were not in prison at the time, and who happened to be available to attend the First Dáil. He had a couple of tickets, he gave one to my mother, and he gave one to myself, so I had the privilege of being present at the first meeting of the First Dáil on the 21st of January 1919. I can remember quite clearly, I remember Cachalbrú in a raised dais, not on the platform of the Mansion House, not on the stage, but on a raised dais on the floor, under him there were three or four secretaries, beside him was Father Michael of Flanagan, who was called upon by Cachalbrú to pray to the Holy Ghost to send all the blessings that they could on to the new Irish nation and on to the new Parliament of Ireland. I remember very clearly, I remember Cachalbrú in a raised dais, not on the platform of the Mansion House, not on the stage, but on a raised dais on the floor, beside him was Father Michael of Flanagan, who was called upon by Cachalbrú to pray to the Holy Ghost to send all the blessings that they could on to the new Irish nation and on to the new Parliament Father of Flanagan recited a prayer to the Holy Spirit, and then Cachalbrú called the roll of members of the Dáil. Some, as might have been expected, had business elsewhere. Belferiste Pottinger, Captain H. Dixon. Aslaugheb. Belferiste Shantill, S. McCuffin. Aslaugheb. Belferiste St. Anne's, T. H. Brown. Aslaugheb. Belferiste Victoria, T. Donald. Aslaugheb. Belferiste Woodville, R. J. Lynn. Aslaugheb. Belferiste Queen's University, Mr. Whitlaw. Aslaugheb. Cunta Heroin, T. J. F. Hardison. Aslaugheb. Cunta Heroin, T. H. Arthur Griefer. Aslaugheb. Cunta Heroin, H. Mr. Coote. Aslaugheb. Caithfairclarige, Captain W. Redmond. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. Aslaugheb. That last voice there, saying, fui glasa golleth, was the voice of Sean Noonan, sometime Irish Ambassador to the United States of America, but in 1919, one of the four clerks appointed to manage the business of the first meeting of Dáil Éireann. He too, like the deputies themselves, was a novice to things parliamentary. Well, after I came out of jail in March 17, I came back to Dublin and was on the staff of Sinn Féin. I was connected with several of the by-elections. I was secretary of the by-election Kilkenny. From there I went to No. 6 Harcourt Street, which was the headquarters of Sinn Féin, and I was on the staff there. I was with James O'Mara, who was director of elections in 1918, and after the elections in December 18, Gavin Duffy asked me to, or told me, that I was to be one of the clerks of the Dáil. There were four clerks, Diarmuid Hegarty, Richard de Faulure, Paddy Sheehan, and myself. My main duty that day was to answer the roll call for the men who were in jail, because you must remember there were quite a number who were in prison in England, and when their names were called, my job at that time was to reply on their behalf that they were fui glasa golleth. Fui glasa golleth, a phrase that loses all its savour in translation, but explains why so many of the 73 Sinn Féin deputies were detained at His Majesty's pleasure. But those who were free to attend proceeded with the day's business. As Sean O'Callaghan recalls... I remember Count Plunkett very clearly, reading the Proclamation of Independence in French. Nous, représentants élus du peuple irlandais, réunis en Assemblée Nationale, attendus que le peuple irlandais ait de foi un peuple libre, attendus qu'il n'a jamais cessé pendant 700 ans de répudier l'usurpation étrangère, et qu'il a maintes fois repoussé par les armes, attendus que le gouvernement d'Anglais... I remember Carl Breugh reading it in Irish. I remember that there were about 70 or 80 chairs halfway up the hall for the deputies who were in attendance, and behind those chairs there was a rope barrier where invited guests were allowed to sit, and also up on the gallery of their own room. I remember also volunteers in uniform, including David Sears, God rest him now, acting as, well, not necessarily protectors, but guardians of the Assembly. These things are still very vivid in my mind, particularly the green uniforms worn by these men who were acting as guards of the Assembly, because at that time Dahl Airden, or the members of Dahl Airden, were not too happy that they would be allowed to meet at all, and that at any time the British authorities might move in, either the army or the Dublin Metropolitan Police, to break up the organisation. The fact that the voil was allowed to proceed was the subject of favourable comment in the following morning's Irish Times. The Irish government's wisdom in permitting the Republican Party to hold its National Assembly yesterday was justified in the event. A thing in one sense was futile and unreal, but in another it conveyed a very grave warning to the Irish people. The voil was described as The Freeman's Journal was hardly more friendly. A most momentous gathering if it was not merely an exhibition of political fireworks. If the proceedings were seriously meant, and if it is any intention to attempt to carry the decisions into effect, we greatly fear that we are on the eve of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of Ireland. In Britain, the Daily News said without admitting that it is the policy, or want of policy, of the British government which has driven the Irish people to this extremity. In America, The World commented The Daily Express and Irish Daily Mail described the proceedings as Nothing but empty phrases. The whole thing is so ludicrous that we can scarcely regard it as what Sinn Féin really aims at. This is by play designed. It may be to cover the sinister designs of the real leaders of the movement of revolt. On the 23rd of January, the Times had this to say. History will probably date the definite decline of the Sinn Féin movement from the day when its National Assembly was opened in Dublin. As to the boys' supporters, the Irish Times had them summed up. The crowd was composed of young men and women, many of whom wore that dark and dour expression which seems to go with Sinn Féin. But Sinn Féin felt neither dour nor dark. Sean O'Callaghan remembers the day as one of joy and hope. It was a day of great hope, a day of great excitement, because thousands of people were trying to force their way into the Round Room of the Mansion House and had to be controlled by volunteers outside the gates, not controlled by the police. But by volunteers like the stewards of the civil rights marches in the North are trying to control their followers rather than depending on the police of the North to do the work that they should be doing. The Declaration of Independence Three major documents were read at the boys' first meeting. The Declaration of Independence, an appeal to the free nations of the world, and the Democratic Programme, which was a declaration of social policy. The Irish Labour Party had, for a number of reasons, not contested the general election, but there were close traditional and personal links between many members of the New Dáil and leaders of the Labour and Socialist movement. It was to one of these leaders, William O'Brien, that Sean T. O'Callaghan turned when it was decided that the Dáil agenda should include a statement of social intent. O'Brien, in turn, discussed the matter with Tom Johnson and Cottle O'Shannon. And the three of us got together and we agreed on what we might call the general aim of the document. Johnson was given the task of drawing up the draft along with my assistance. My assistance was largely taking some things from Pearse's last pamphlet, The Sovereign People, which showed the influence of James Connolly on Pearse, especially on Pearse's last years. I added that, and perhaps one or two other things, and that document then was handed back to Sean T. O'Callaghan. The rest of the story, we knew nothing about it, but Johnson and I were in the Dáil in the gallery at the opening of the Dáil when the three documents were adopted. They were all done in Irish. O'Callaghan and Pearse Beakley did the democratic programme. To tell the truth, I can't remember whether we called it the democratic programme or whether somebody else called it the democratic programme. But anyhow, Johnson and I noticed that there were some changes in the thing as originally drafted and handed to Sean T. O'Callaghan. We didn't know how those occurred until years afterwards. The programme, as finally promulgated, was more social than socialist. Some of the more radical expressions in the first draft were removed or rewritten by Sean T. at the insistence of some of his colleagues. Still, it was, for all that, a remarkably progressive document for its time. And if its provisions had been fully implemented, one could not refer today to what a contemporary scholar has called the social revolution that never was. Ern on the Blyde puts it rather sharply. No, no, I never found anybody who took the slightest interest in it. It was the Labour Party secured the adoption of it. I don't think anybody, practically speaking, bothered with it afterwards. It was regarded as some sort of a hoisting or a flying, but it wasn't considered significant in the struggle that was commencing. If the first goyle was not unduly preoccupied with social affairs, economics was one of its major concerns. If the goyle was to be more than the exercise in window dressing, which its enemies accused it of being, it had to get down to work, its task being nothing less than the replacement of British government in Ireland by a national administration. To do this job, money was badly needed, which gives point to the importance of Michael Collins' appointment as Minister for Finance. The money was raised, both at home and in America. In June 1919, Sean Noonan, who was by then Private Secretary to the President, accompanied Mr. de Valera to the United States. Well, perhaps accompanied is not quite the word. Mr. de Valera went as a stowaway. Michael Collins, to whom I went to get my transportation orders, advised me to go to Liverpool and see Neil Kerr, who was the head centre of the IRB at that time. I accordingly went to Liverpool, having got five pounds at No. 6 Hackett Street, to bring me to New York. I saw Neil Kerr, and the following day we went down to the docks, and lo and behold, the Aquitaine was signing on a crew. We were inside of an hour. I was a member of the Seamen's and Firemen's Union, the Secretary of which, incidentally, was also an IRB man. I had a new name, I was James Smith, and I was registered as such at the Board of Trade. I then signed on as a fireman on the Aquitaine, and a couple of days afterwards we sailed from Southampton to New York, where I jumped ship and linked up again with Mr. de Valera. I travelled through America with him, and later on, when we were in Portland, Oregon, Mr. James O'Mara, who had been Director of Elections here in 1918, came out to direct the bond drive. Then Mr. de Valera and James O'Mara decided I should go with Mr. O'Mara to run the bond drive with him. I was made registrar of the bond drive, and we raised roughly $6 million. It was a fantastic achievement. I suppose it was the Irish man's Irish who did it. Oh, I mean it was. Mr. O'Mara and other men there, Joe McGarrity in particular, were very active, and the old clan of Gale in New York too, and committees were set up in practically every state of the Union. Monies were collected there, deposited in a bank account in that state, and eventually transferred to one account in New York, and from there it was withdrawn and sent home. There were two loans. The first loan raised roughly, I suppose around $5 million, perhaps about $5 million. Then that was closed down, and a second loan was launched, and Mr. Stephen O'Mara, brother of James, came out to run it. But then the treaty came along, and that second loan followed it up. Now when you were doing all this work, Mr. Noonan, you and your colleagues were working, of course, in the name of the Irish Republic. Did you feel that the authority under whom you were working was Lord Aedran? Oh, definitely. No doubt about it. That was the Parliament set up by the vote of the people, and we took that vote as law. That was our law. Lord Aedran was our master. We worked for them, through them, for the country. During the three years 1919, 1920 and 1921, the First Royal held 12 sessions. In the first year, four of these were public, but all the others were private, and at times, for obvious reasons, secret. The remarkable thing is that against the tumultuous background of those years, so much constructive work was done, the outstanding example being that of the Sinn Féin or Republican courts. Conor Maguire, later to become Chief Justice of Ireland, was deeply involved in the work of these courts, and indeed he claims that it was in his native Mayo that it all began. The first recollection I have of the idea of setting up courts being mentioned was when I was Chairman of the Courier-Councillor Office Sinn Féin in Mayo. We had four solicitors sympathetic with Sinn Féin, Paddy Rutledge being, of course, the principal one, and we conceived the idea that it would be possible to accept a leader of the Dáil, which early in 1919 indicated that the arbitrations that we should try setting up our arbitration courts, we decided to have a go at it, and we arranged that we would set up courts and follow more or less the procedure of the British courts, the petitions and the county court, and then later the assizes. At first it was an effort that we didn't hope to succeed, but we found that people, curiously enough, were rather anxious that we should take over the administration of justice and once we got the courts going, we had no trouble in getting either local men who were prepared to suggest justice or in persuading litigants to come to the courts. Sometimes the courts were much more than mere persuasion used to induce litigants to transfer their cases, but directly the courts began to function and they saw that justice was being administered. We had no trouble at all and in the end, of course it's a good deal later, we took all the business away from the county court and we in 1920 took away all the business from the assize court. One court, Conor McGuire recalls as crucial, involved a case of land agitation. In the village of Kilmain there were two men, one held 50 acres and the other 40, and they were looked on in that part of the country as ranchers and the usual type of agitation began against them, digging graves outside their houses, boycotting them, and this happened as a matter of fact. Right in the historic boycott neighbourhood only a few miles away, boycott had been created, given the word boycott to the language and we were following a well-known tradition, but they were, I should say, boycotting and we were hopeful to get the trouble adjusted before the local Sinn Féin court. Were you involved in the case yourself? I was involved, acting for the agitators and they were anxious of course to come before the local court hoping to get a better deal there, but Father Healy, the parish priest of Kilmain, came to me and told me that his friends, the two men who were being boycotted, would never go to a local court, but he made the offer that if I could get the people of Dublin to send down somebody to act in the capacity of arbitrator or judge, that he believed they would obey his wishes and go before such a tribunal. Arthur Griffith, however, was reluctant to act, fearing that even if the court were held without hindrance, it would be impossible to enforce the verdict if it went against the agitators. I told them that I thought Common and Commagoire would ensure that it would be carried out and I saw him and asked him and he told me yes, so I wrote to Dublin and told them, asked them to send somebody down, they sent down Kevin O'Shield and Arthur Conner. Arthur Conner, later the Minister of Agriculture. Kevin was just a practising lawyer at the time and we held the court in the town of Castle Ballinrobe and it was the first open Sinn Fé court held anywhere. Everybody was full of interest in it and after about a fortnight they gave their judgment against my clients in favour of the two ranchers and the reason they gave was that there were 500 acres in the hands of the District Court nearby which would quite well accommodate every agitating tenant. How the verdict was enforced is another story, but enforced it was with the assistance of the volunteers. This is a programme about the First Doyle, not about the Anglo-Irish War. It is, however, to be noted that the conduct of that war was brought under the control of the Doyle once the Oath of Allegiance to the Republic and the Doyle was introduced in August 1919 and administered not only to deputies and officers of the Doyle but also to the volunteers. There may be argument about the effectiveness of the control but the significance of the oath was, as Liam O'Brien reminds us, of the highest importance. The volunteers through the country, when they started engaging in conflict with the black and tans and these, did not consider themselves to be rebels. It was no longer, although the cry of up the rebels was to be heard, it was rather an ignorant cry. They were, they considered themselves to be the soldiers of a constituted authority. Soldiers acting with the authority of a government established in Dublin, a regularly established government representing the majority of the people and elected by the majority of the people. This was very, very important for their morale and also for their conscience, if you like, when they had to do terrible deeds, they could always say superior orders, the government. On the question of international recognition for the Irish Republic, high hopes had, as we've heard, been placed on the Versailles Peace Conference. This, however, turned out to be, for Ireland, damp squib. The envoys of the First Doyle, however, did do very valuable work, both in Europe and America. And on another level, Carl O'Shaughnessy and Tom Johnson made Ireland's case heard at the Social and Labour International meeting held in Bern early in 1919. It happened that Ramsey MacDonald, who was the leader of the British delegation, a very influential international man, made a speech, but it was really the ordinary British Labour speech on Ireland about home rule, about supporting home rule. Johnson, my colleague, said to me, send up your name and answer MacDonald. I sent up my name and I answered MacDonald, told about the raising, told about the colony, told about the setting up of the dam and all that, and about the support that we were given to it and the good relations between the insurrectionists and ourselves. And that had a very good effect, particularly afterwards when people spoke to me what they were very much interested in was that when some other subject nationalities, like the Czechs and others, had set up governments in exile, the Irish had set up not only a government at home, but a parliament at home called Darwin. A jubilee is a time for celebration and to keep the past for pride. But it is also a proper time for reassessment. To help us to look at the First Oil 50 years afterwards, here are two historians, Kevin Nolan and John Murphy. Kevin, how do you see the First Oil as an expression of popular will? This is one of the very difficult questions to answer, but a very important one. The easy, cliché way of answering it is to say that the popular will elected the first Republican Doyle. But, of course, one has to ask the question, in turn, to what extent the people were consciously Republican in 1918? To what extent was the result an expression of anger, discontent, disillusionment at the whole pattern of home rule politics and British government policy before and after 1916? And I think the answer must surely lie something along these lines. Some people were positively, consciously Republican. Others were disillusioned but prepared to somehow see in Sinn Féin a new approach to the whole problem of the government and the future of Ireland. And perhaps in all revolutions that is as much as one can expect. That you will have some who are conscious, who have a clear political programme, and that others are prepared either to accept it, allow it and to follow them. But I don't think one can push the thing much beyond that point. John Murphy? Yes, I agree with Kevin. There was, of course, the hard residual element of Finian white-white tradition who definitely, in voting for Sinn Féin, were voting for a republic. But there was also a great mass of people who were rejecting the parliamentary party, rejecting Westminster, rejecting Dublin Castle, and who were voting, without a doubt, for independence. But to interpret their vote as a vote for an Irish republic, per se, is, I think, putting an interpretation on the facts which a historian cannot really guarantee, which he can't stand over. Of course, the revised programme of Sinn Féin is relevant here. The revised programme of Sinn Féin, as adopted in 1917, is undoubtedly relevant. But even that, of course, left a very important way out, Sean. Because it's said there that while the aim of Sinn Féin was to achieve an Irish republic, yet the ultimate relationship between Ireland and other countries would be determined freely by the representatives of the people of Ireland, leaving a way open, of course, for a possible settlement with Great Britain. And this is an aspect of Sinn Féin policy one must never forget, the underlay of conservatism under, shall we say, the crust of revolution. Would you see here, and perhaps in this use of the word, fair thought for republic, the notion of republic not so much as a form of government, as what the ballot calls complete separation? Well, Liam O'Brien has just told us that when he was at actionary in 1918, he and his colleagues made it quite clear to the people that Sinn Féin was standing for an independent Ireland. But he's not quite so sure that they were standing for any particular doctrinal form of government. And it's of interest that Mr de Valera specifically disclaimed that the people had in fact voted for a republic, for a precise doctrinal form of government. They had voted for independent self-determination. Yes, I think that's the important point, Sean, that John has just made, that self-determination was the issue rather than precise forms of government. Well, of course, the purer, clearer, more doctrinaire view of republicanism was there underlain. Oh, but of course, as I think John mentioned earlier, the old Athenian republican tradition, an enormously important factor in the making of modern Ireland. Now, this radicalism, one would have expected to carry with it a social radicalism. This is one of the peculiarities, Sean, I think, of the whole development of modern Irish nationalism, even from the end of the 19th century onwards. I think the Land Acts took the fire out of the belly, so to speak, of Irish radical nationalism. It became essentially a matter of the relatively small urban working class. Rural Ireland, as indeed many Russian socialists discovered to his cost, like rural Russia, rural Ireland became increasingly conservative once its aims were achieved, namely ownership of the land. And I think unless one remembers that, one cannot understand the curious paradox that the Irish revolution became increasingly a bourgeois middle class revolution, while in other countries of the world, including even the German revolution, 1918-1919, you had a very strong socialist undercurrent. And, of course, the republican courts dealing with land troubles is very important in this. Well, so it is. And it's, again, significant that the great majority of verdicts in these cases were in favour of the status quo. Now, your Marxist historian would interpret this as the triumph of the middle class nationalist over the suppressed socialism of the volunteers. But it's far more realistic, and we must always take the touchstone of the surviving veteran and so on, a very important matter for historians here, that rather the whole reason for these conservative decisions was the Times, after all, the famous journal, had denounced the proceedings of the first stall as a boldly Bolshevist. And it was a prime matter for the judges of the republican court to demonstrate that they were respectable, that they were, they had a right concern for the proper social values and so on. And I think that the republican courts, in pronouncing for landlords, were pronouncing for law and order. I'd go a long way with John Murphy on that point. But on the other side, one must bear in mind, again, the interesting comments we heard in the programme earlier. Ernest Blythe thought the democratic programme was a bit of window dressing, not much more. Cahill O'Shannon's comment that the end product, and he put it in his own very characteristically cautious and gentle way, that the end product wasn't quite the thing that was sent in. And, of course, the fact remains that the democratic programme did largely remain window dressing. One cynic has once said that the republic which emerged was the tricolour republic and not the plough and the stars republic. That is a simplification, of course. But, as I said earlier, the remarkable thing, I think, about the Irish revolution was that it was so conservative, so moderate, so moderate that it has been described ultimately as a half revolution. But perhaps the half revolution reflects the deep tolerance, on another level, of the Irish people. Of course, it was by no means a tolerant revolution but it came to the action in the field. And, of course, you yourself have talked and written about the relationship between the boy and the fighting men. Yes, well, of course, this is one of the interesting things. Potentially, I suppose, the volunteers could have developed into a sort of making of a military dictatorship sort of organisation. But the interesting, and I think for the story of democratic parliamentary government in Ireland, the interesting thing was that they eventually did come, however hesitantly, perhaps in some cases, they did come under Dáil Éireann and became the army of the republic. Stressing something which I think is important, this enormous concern about constitutionality. Could I come back, Sean, to the average volunteer? People like Strauss, again, have this bookish division between the Sinn Féin moderates and the volunteer proletariat, so to speak. But if we relate this to what we know, and to what we can glean from our uncles and fathers and so on, this doesn't really make sense. What did the average volunteer fight for? He fought for neither a doctrinaire constitutional form of government, neither for a republic, nor for a socialist revolution. And thus we see flamboyant inscriptions and monuments, so-and-so died for the republic as established in 1916. He certainly did not. He fought for Ireland. And in this vague, all-embracing concept, of course, he assumed that Ireland would be a better place, would be free, and would have, obviously, social justice, and would give fair play to all its citizens. And yet, and yet, the notion of the republic was there, and continued to be there, and, of course, the notion of the republic taking its place among the free nations of the world. Well, I think this is a very crucial question, because while I think John Murphy is correct, and I go again along with him in stressing the fact that one must think in terms of separatism rather than doctrinaire republicanism, yet the old Fenian tradition, the establishment in 1867 of the Irish Republic virtually established, with also quite a strong undercurrent on the question of land reform, be it added, at the time. But this tradition was the thing which gives a continuity in revolutionary thought in Ireland. It can't be forgotten. On the other hand, it would be silly to assume that the whole of Ireland felt that way. But the key figures in the making, I think, of our revolution felt that way. And, of course, 1916 is dominant here. The sheer weight of the martyr dead must have been enormous. It was the main motif in the 1918 election. Though we might say, some of us, that's for the first thought, to proclaim in such uncompromising terms the republic one and indivisible. Yet it is difficult to see, in view of the sheer weight, so to speak, of separatist history and of the interests of 1916, in what other form the demand for independence could be expressed. This other motif of the 1918 election campaign, the peace conference, the hopes placed on that, of course, it was sad how this worked out. I do feel, however, that, you know, people like Sean T. O'Kelly and the other envoys must have done an enormous amount of work, really. Yes, but if, again, perhaps, this may be brought back to the question of the particular form in which the demand for independence was expressed. If the First Dáil had expressed itself in less uncompromising terms and had backed it up, let us say, by a campaign of civil disobedience, of passive resistance, who knows, perhaps, that world opinion at large, and British public opinion in particular, might have put pressure on the British government to yield to this particular kind of claim. Well, the funny thing about the whole tradition of the Dáil is that it is very deeply embedded in an Irish tradition, going back to O'Connell. This notion of, let us use the English electoral machinery, let us re-establish the old Irish Parliament, it has never been dissolved, it has really never disappeared, we are now really reconstituting it. And I think the fascinating thing about the events of 1919 was this wedding of a republican radical revolutionary tradition with the notion that you could have an orderly constitutional parliament representing the people of Ireland. And that you could set up an administration. Very unique, I think. I do feel that the way in which a power administration was set up in this country, in the teeth and in full view of the British structure, was quite fantastic. Quite fantastic, and possibly, subject correction, in the history of Europe in the 20th century, I think possibly unique. In fact, it is the uniqueness of the Irish Revolution which fascinates historians. For the whole Irish Revolution, not simply for the proceedings of the first law, this is very difficult to see European parallels. The only obvious one, I suppose, is the one which Griffith put before his listeners, and had put before them for a decade or more, the question of the Hungarian abstention. And even this, many historians would say, was a very controversial interpretation. But beyond this, it is very difficult to see if there was any other inspiration for Irish procedures, for Irish revolutionary strategy, except the purely internal and traditional one. Oh, I think this is absolutely true, Sean, that as it were, the precedent was to be found originally in O'Connell's notion of the Council of 300, which then Griffith took up at the beginning of this century very cleverly and very brilliantly. And as I say, one can perhaps see in the events of early 1919 a curious coming together of kind of passive resistance with the tradition of military action, which is, again, a fascinating study in political development, a kind of amalgam of the old, insensate and articulate white boy activities and the new articulate chimpanzee expression going back to Catholic emancipation. And perhaps personalised in, among other people, Michael Collins, who we think of as the great guerrilla leader, the genius in setting up an intelligence system, but also the brilliant Minister for Finance, who organised the money without which the thing could not have gone ahead. In a most fascinating way and under very difficult circumstances. And himself, perhaps, the product of a new Ireland, a more literate and articulate and better educated Ireland. Of course, the constructive achievements of the boyland, the constructive work of the boys, I think, was Erskine Childer's pamphlet at the time. This is something, I think, which, perhaps when all is said and done, will be the most lasting memorial to you. Well, I suppose the lasting memorial is that a parliamentary form of government did come into existence within a revolutionary framework. And that despite all the vicissitudes of the Civil War and the rest, that the concept of parliamentary government and democratic government survived in this country through a period of enormous test in the 20s and 30s. This was, I think, a great contribution of the amateur politicians who went in to Dáil Éireann in their green uniforms or just leaving their green uniforms, as it were, at home that day. It was they who, I think, brought this thing in. And while we can be critical about many aspects, particularly the failure to develop an adequate social policy, we must also recognise the enormous positive contribution in terms of constitutional government. I agree, yes. Much of the 19th century English jibes at the Irishman was that Paddy was irresponsible, he couldn't govern himself. From 1918 onwards, despite the regrettable setback of the Civil War, it was one of the great comforts, so to speak, for all generations that Paddy was able to govern himself. So while it is a time for critical reassessment, it is also a time for the praising of famous men and our fathers who begat us. In the name of the Irish people, we humbly commit our destiny to almighty God, who gave our fathers the courage and determination to persevere through long centuries of a ruthless tyranny and strong in the justice of the cause which they had handed down to us. We ask his divine blessing on this, the last stage of the struggle we have plagued ourselves to carry through to freedom. Thank you very much. We thank those who believe that we are now living in a new era in the history of the United Kingdom. We thank those who believe that we are now living in a new era in the history of the United Kingdom. And we thank those who believe that we are now living in a new era in the history of the United Kingdom. My name is Ron, and I am a new member of the Irish Parliament. I am a member of the Irish Parliament since the beginning of the year 2000, and I understand that I have the right to speak, and to imagine, and to do something. I am a member of the Irish Parliament since the beginning of the year 2000, when it was decided that the only thing I wanted to do and I agree, if I am not mistaken, not only that day itself, but every day since then, to give justice and freedom to the people as I would like to give it. With the nation, justice is a must for us, and it is a matter of duty to stand up for the nation. It is a matter of duty, and it will be done, but it will not be easy at all to do it with the greatest effort. There is no way, or method, or method to do it with the greatest effort. We will not give up that effort to cry, and to shout, and to shout, if there is a right to be on the land and on the land. It is clear to me today, as I said in a speech six years ago, that it is not as important as the two votes here, but a matter of duty and a matter of faith to stand up for the people of Ireland. On the other hand, I believe that when the time comes for the people of Ireland to stand up for themselves, to stand up for the people of Ireland, then it is a matter of duty and a matter of faith. In English and in Basque, in Martian and in Gaelic, in Moorish and in Gaelic, it is a matter of duty and a matter of faith. That is the reason why, as I said earlier, I believe that it is a matter of duty and a matter of faith. What is left for me to say? What else is left for me to say to the people of Ireland and to the people of New Zealand and beyond? We are proud and happy and we know that it is a matter of duty and a matter of faith to stand up for the people of Ireland. We know that the people of Ireland are proud and happy and that no one can stand up for themselves. They are proud and happy and it is a matter of duty and a matter of faith for the people of this country to stand up for themselves and to stand up for the people of Ireland. I would like to repeat those words. I would like the work to be as it should be. I would like everyone to know that this nation has been struggling for the last 50 years. It is a matter of duty to work as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. In the difficult times that are ahead of us we have a great responsibility to the people of Ireland. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. In the difficult times that are ahead of us we have a great responsibility to the people of Ireland to steer the country in the right direction. In the difficult times that are ahead of us we have a great responsibility to the people of Ireland to steer the country in the right direction. The Institutes are working across the nation to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. I would like the work to be as it should be and to steer the country in the right direction. It is difficult to re-establish when a new state is formed and there is a great deal to be done every year in order to make the country a better place. That is what I am going to do and what I am going to do now from now on to make the country a better place and to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place in order to make the country a better place Let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us I would like to tell you that you are not the only one or you are not the only one who has the right to say what you want to say People, I would like to tell you that the people of Ireland for a long time have not given up their right to say what they want to say to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations of the Irish people to the new generations 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language This is back in the studio. And I hope Bernard will be with us this Monday and for now we're going to go to Lyrical Allsorts, usually at 6pm but 7pm this Friday and that of course is Linda O'Malley. So over to you Linda and thank you very much for listening and I'll see you again next week.