Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 19 December 2013
“Technical Memories (Part 65) – Marshalling a Future”
In 1949, the principal J F King retired at the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute. He had reached the 66 age mark. He was replaced by James Barry for a short time. At the annual inaugural mass to mark the opening of the Cork City Vocational Schools at St Finbarr’s Church of the South Chapel, Mr Barry was in attendance. The Cork Examiner lists the members of staff present by their surname – Cornelius Murphy, P J Hurley, J C Aherne, J A Kerrigan, Miss M O’Mahony, Miss H Hennessy, Miss K O’Sullivan, T Glavin, P M McDonald (Mechanical and electrical engineering), S J Bennett (Elect. Eng.), T O’Sullivan, T Murphy, T E Urell, P Lane, W Cleary, P J Cleary, P J McSheehy, C J O’Mahony, Terry Layton, M Kelleher, P McCarthy, C O’Riordan, W Beecher, Mrs A Quinn, S Clayton, E Mansfield, R Hurley, Miss J Kelly, E F Casey, J O’Beirne, Miss M O’Halloran, Miss H M Healy, Mrs H J Hill, C Collins, Miss E Barrett, Miss M F O’Farrell, Miss E Buckley, Mr M Black (If anyone knows more about these individuals, give me a call, 087663389).
The following year, 1951, Mr Ted Murphy was appointed principal. The archives of the VEC remark that he was from Montenotte Park. He received his early education at St Patrick’s National School and at the North Mon. He subsequently was a student of the Crawford Tech. In 1927, he became a part time lecturer at the Tech and a senior whole-time one in 1932. In 1935 he obtained the Ceard Teastas Gaeilge whilst in 1940 he entered the Physics Department in UCC pursuing a four year course in a BSC Honours degree. He took experimental physics as his major honour’s subject with mathematics. After graduation, Murphy helped as a part time demonstrator in experimental physics at UCC. He was also an examiner in engineering for the Cork Harbour Commissioners, the Department of Education, Lockeed Aircraft Corporation and Irish Shipping Ltd.
Between 1949-1951 Ted Murphy and his staff witnessed a change in Irish government twice, which altered the educational needs of the country. Although World War II had ended several years earlier, rationing continued and massive inflation plagued the economy. Fianna Fáil’s defeat in 1948 came because the other parties in the Dáil, led by Fine Gael, joined together to form an Inter-Party Government (1948-1951). Led by John A Costello as Taoiseach, his government declared Ireland as a Republic and will be remembered for the controversy surrounding the Mother and Child Scheme, designed by the Health Minister Noel Browne. Significantly during their short time in office, they did take over the negotiation from Fianna Fáil to attain funds from the Marshall Plan. Bernadette Whelan’s book, Ireland and the Marshall Plan, 1947-57, elaborates that The United States initiated the Marshall Plan, or the European Recovery Program, in 1947 to try to foster growth in the postwar European economy to make it self-sufficient. The American vision for Europe was multilayered. It was in America’s self-interest to support its best customers to recreate enough prosperity to be able to buy American goods again.
By the time the program was ended more than $13 billion had been sent to Europe in grants or loans. The coalition government headed by John A Costello, which came into office in early 1948, seemed to regard the aid program as a way to finance purchases and improvements not otherwise affordable – that this was a way to create a modern, out-ward-looking, export led economy. Seán MacBride, the Minister for Foreign Affairs saw the numerous meetings in Europe and the United States as opportunities to procure international support for ending the separation of the Six Counties from the rest of the country. The end result was that Ireland obtained $128 million in loans, $18 million in grants, and $1.25 million in technical assistance, as well as appropriating “counterpart funds” through its own budget to parallel the monies received. These funds were used both to purchase American goods, otherwise not obtainable because of the dollar shortage, and for costly capital improvements within Ireland.
An examination of Dáil Éireann records released on 6 July 1950 reveals that the goods received from the United States of America under Marshall Aid during the year ended 31 December 1949 totalled $63,929,000 in value. A sum of $14, 351,000 was spent on foodstuffs from wheat to tobacco (408,331 tons of food) and $49, 518,000 spent on non edible materials. Top of the latter list iron and steel materials and products amounted to $1,645,000, electrical apparatus at $429,000, construction equipment at £514,000, industrial machinery at $979,000 and motor vehicles and parts at $899,000.
Where the Marshall aid didn’t provide all monies for industrial development, it did kickstart the country in developing industrial policies and related jobs education programmes. The Cork City and harbour region in the 1950s witnessed the creation of four large industrial projects, two developed by the ESB – the Lee hydroelectric scheme and the Marina plant; then there was Whitegate Oil Refinery and fourthly Irish Steel Ltd on Haulbowline.
To be continued…
Kieran’s new book (with Dan Breen), West Cork Through Time, is now available in shops and on Amazon. Happy Christmas and New Year to all readers of the column.
Caption:
722a. European Marshal Aid Poster, c.1950