One hundred years ago this week a research inquiry set up by Dáil Éireann – six months previously – arrived to the steps of Cork City Hall The ensuing event coincided with another stand-off between individuals pushing for a Republic and those upholding Ireland’s place within the British Empire.
On 18 June 1919 Dáil Éireann decreed the appointment of a National Commission of Inquiry into the Resources and Industries of Ireland. Subject to its report, it was planned to establish a National Exhibition of Irish Products and Manufactures and Resources, and that an appropriate figure of £5,000 would be made available for such an event. Dublin man and Sinn Féin Honorary Secretary Darrell Figgis was appointed secretary of this national commission of inquiry. Professor Mary Daly’s work in the Atlas of the Irish Revolution outlines that to attract support across a broad political spectrum 60 experts were approached for their expertise from business, academia, county surveyors and labour leaders. Forty-nine agreed to share their perspectives. Two broad areas were focussed on – food supply and power resources. The first public meeting of the Commission in Dublin was held on 2 December 1919 without any disturbance recorded.
On 22 January 1920 the Commission met at Cork City Hall. The Cork Examiner outlines that several policemen were in possession of the front portion of the building. Hence admission at the entrance fronting Albert Quay was denied to the members of the Commission as they were part of the outlawed Dáil Éireann (since September 1919). They, however, succeeded in baffling the police and got in by the door leading from the Corn Market side. They went in there one by one between ten and eleven o’clock. It was only at 12noon that the police discovered that a sitting was being held within the building. Immediately the Head Constable and some police went to the room where the evidence was being taken and ejected the members of the Commission.
On the same day a delegation from Westminster was due to meet in City Hall to gather its data on industrial resources and opportunities in the region. The delegation, with the Lord Mayor William F O’Connor (a Nationalist member) and the High Sheriff arrived a few minutes after noon. As the Lord Mayor walked through the small crowd that had congregated on the quay towards the door of the City Hall, he was stopped by Mr Darrell Figgis, secretary of the Dáil Éireann commission. Darrell asked him if it was not a fact that he had granted them the use of the Hall for the purpose of holding an inquiry into the resources of the country. The Lord Mayor said that was so and Mr Figgis then said that the police had forcibly ejected them and asked if this was done with the Lord Mayor’s consent. The Lord Mayor said that he had given no such order, and that as far as he was concerned, he desired that they should use it. The Head Constable intervened to say that he had orders not to allow them enter.
The diaries of Liam de Róiste MP and Dil Éireann member outlines his involvement with the bringing of Mr Darrell Figgis to Cork. His diaries can be read in Cork City and County Archives. He met the group the evening before the inquiry meeting at their Cork hotel. He was present that evening when the Head Constable arrived and told the group the Commission would not be allowed to sit at City Hall the following day. It was Liam de Róiste, who had just been elected as a Councillor during the local elections, who brought the group in a side door on the Corn Market side the following day.
After the group were told to leave City Hall, Liam brought the group to the Cork School of Art. He details that the delegation was about ten in number and amongst others included high profile Sinn Féin members and regional experts – Colonel Maurice Moore (retired Connaught Rangers Regiment commander & Sinn Féin member), Professor Alfred O’Rahilly (Cork Sinn Féin councillor & UCC academic), Roger Sweetnam (Sinn Féin MP), Professor Robert Tweedy (a prominent electrical engineer, Thomas P Dowdall (Cork IDA & butter and margarine manufacturer), Andrew O’Shaughnessy (Dripsey Woollen Mills), Mr Edward Lysaght and Labour leader Tom Johnson. Professor of Agriculture at UCC Thomas Wibberley was the first witness who spoke about agriculture and milk production. He was an expert in tillage dairy farming, farm management and the production of animal foodstuffs.
After an hour of debate School of Art, a head constable and constable arrived and sat amongst the meeting for a time before they were replaced by two detectives. The commission went on undisturbed. Mr Figgis and a farmer from Cove, a Mr Bird, spoke about milk production. The meeting adjourned for lunch but on the group’s return they found the door blocked by the police. They then left intending to go the Crawford Technical School. Passing the Court House, Liam brought them into the Cork County Council offices. Some of the clerks there locked the doors and the sitting continued till 8pm. Evidence on meat, milk, wool and other products were taken.
The following day Liam de Róiste reports in his diary that the police occupied the Courthouse and the City Hall. The evidence on fish industries was taken at the delegation’s Cork hotel. The police made a complaint, but the hotel upheld the view that persons not residing in the hotel would not be allowed in.
In the months ahead, further planned meetings across the country were scuppered by the War of Independence. Eventually in 1922, the National Commission of Inquiry into the Resources and Industries of Ireland concluded its proceedings and published reports and elaborate maps on dairying, coal, industrial alcohol, milk, peat, fisheries, stock breeding and water power.
Captions:
1032a. Darrell Figgis, circa 1920, Secretary of the National Commission of Inquiry into the Resources and Industries of Ireland, 1919-1922, photographed by Joseph Cashman (source: RTE Archive)
1032b. Liam De Róiste, circa 1918 (source: Cork City Library)
One hundred years ago today, 16 January 1920, boxes of votes for the city’s six local electoral areas and for membership of Cork Corporation began to be counted in Cork City Hall. The election had taken place a day earlier on 15 January. A total of 160 candidates looked on with trepidation on their fate as the ballot boxes were being opened. Only one female, Summerhill North resident Miss Anne Sutton representing the Sinn Féin and Workers Transport grouping and standing in the north-east ward, was on the ballot paper (who was successful).
On 15 January, booths opened at 8am and closed at 8pm., after which the ballot boxes were taken to the City Hall, where the votes were counted. On Friday morning 16 January two trained staff groups counted the votes and two electoral areas were counted simultaneously. There were six groupings for the public to vote for – the conjoined Sinn Féin and Transport Workers (30 seats won), Irish Parliamentary Party/ Irish Nationalist members (14 seats won), the Cork Rate Payer’s Association/ Commercial (4 seats won), Labour (3 seats won), Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers (2 seats won), and Independents (3 seats won). At the time the term of office was set at three years. The Sinn Féin and Transport Workers grouping had a clear majority of 30 seats out of 56. They also had great success in Waterford and Limerick.
The first meeting of the newly elected Cork Corporation was to take place on Friday 30 January. At this meeting the principal business was to elect a Lord Mayor for the ensuing twelve months, to fix the salary of that office, to give three names for submission to the Lord Lieutenant of persons suitable for the office of City High Sheriff, and to set the dates and hours of quarterly meetings. In addition to the election of members to the several Corporation committees, the Council were to elect five of its number to the Cork Harbour Board. Three members of the old Council who were on the Harbour Board ceased to be members thereof when they ceased to be members of the Corporation.
The Sinn Féin and Transport Workers grouping in the Corporation had a working majority over all other groupings. One of their number was in gaol, Alderman Frederick Murray, and J J Walsh MP was on the run from policing authorities. This, however, was not to affect considerably their power to control the Council’s work. Both the Sinn Féin and the Transport Workers groupings held separate private meetings when their agendas were discussed and agreed upon.
Tracking the various meetings through the Cork Examiner, with one week to go, the selection of the name for the Lord Mayoralty had not been made, but J J Walsh, MP was being considered as the front runner. However, as he was on the run from policing authorities there were several challenges with his nomination. The point though was argued by some members of the Sinn Féin and the Transport Workers in favour of his election, as any future potential arresting of a Lord Mayor of the city would place the policing authorities in an awkward political position. Nevertheless, the Mayoralty position was offered to Tomás MacCurtain, the well-respected brigade commander of Cork no.1 Batallion within the IRA (since 1918). He has been active on the ground since his Irish Volunteer days and had spent several months in Frongoch prison. His family were also well-known manufacturers in Blackpool.
On 31 January 1920 as early as 11.30am the gallery and available seats within the Council Chamber of the old City Hall were comfortably filled. Soon the place was absolutely packed with people. There were some clergymen present, and it was noted in the press for the first time in the history of such a meeting that a large number of women were present. Admission was by ticket and these were checked by firemen at the main entrance outside of which many people gathered.
The first members of the Corporation to take their place in the council chamber were Messrs M J O’Callaghan (Independent), Daniel Gamble (Irish Parliamentary Party), and Daniel Horgan (Irish Parliamentary Party). Some minutes after, about 11.45am, the Sinn Féin members came in together, and were received with loud cheer with a special hearty welcome been given to Alderman Tomás MacCurtain, the selected of their party for the chair. A few minutes before 12noon the outgoing Lord Mayor William F O’Connor took the chair.
At noon the Town Clerk called the roll, and 51 members answered out of the 56. The Sinn Féin Party gave their reply in Irish, answering ‘anseo’. When the name of Alderman Frederick Murray was called, Councillor O’Cuill said in Irish that he was in prison, and again, when Alderman J J Walsh’s name was called, he said in Irish, “Ta sé ar siúl” or in English he was “on the run”. Those remarks were given a sympathetic cheer. Immediately further cheers signalled the approval of the public present for the motion, spoken to in Irish by Councillor O’Cuill, proposing that Alderman Tomás MacCurtain to be Lord Mayor for the coming year. The motion was seconded by Councillor MacSwiney, MP, who also spoke in Irish.
The Chairman asked: “Is there any other candidates?”. He declared Alderman MacCurtain unanimously elected (more in the next few weeks).
Have you a family member who was one of the original 56 councillors elected in 1920 or who appear on the famous roll of honour in Cork City Hall outside the Council Chamber (see picture), give me a shout with some more information at 0876553389 or email info@kieranmccarthy.ie. Many of the names have never been researched in any depth and much information has been diluted on their background and general context.
Caption:
Roll of Honour, Members of the First Council to have a Republican majority in the City Borough of Cork, 1920-1924, on display outside the Council Chambers of the present day Cork City Hall. The names also include those who were elected through by-election – an extra 12 names – within the electoral period of four years (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has called for responses to the nature of archaeological test trenches on Bessborough Grounds before Christmas. Cllr McCarthy has been adamant in his call at Council level that a geo-physical radar survey be conducted on the grounds.
In response to Cllr McCarthy’s question to the Chief Executive at the last Council meeting, information was forthcoming that a programme of pre-development geophysical survey and archaeological test trenching was recommended by the City Archaeologist as part of pre-planning discussions in relation to a proposed development at this site.
According to the Director of Services for Strategic Planning and Economic Development Ferghal Reidy: “This is a standard recommendation given the size and scale of the proposed development and the sites location in close proximity to known archaeological Recorded Monuments and Places (RMP). The site was examined by a geophysical surveyor and was deemed unsuitable for Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). GPR requires a very even ground surface free from excess vegetation and modern debris”.
A programme of archaeological test trenching commenced on Monday 9th December 2019. This work involved some necessary site clearance works. This work was carried out under archaeological licence issued by the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The trenches were excavated, under supervision by a suitably qualified and experienced archaeologist, with a machine with a toothless bucket. The soil was removed in spits and was subsequently sieved on site. This is considered best practice.
The City Archaeologist was kept informed at all times and undertook a site inspection on Wednesday 11th December 2019. The ground works ceased on the afternoon of Wednesday 11th December following discussions with the National Monuments Service and the developer’s archaeologist. This was due to a technical issue with the archaeological licence. No archaeological features or finds were noted in the trenches excavated.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “ it is crucial that Cork City Council remains aware of the sensitivities associated with the site and these are kept to the fore with the representatives of the developer”.
To ask the CE for the Council’s role, if any, in the archaeological dig that recently took place on Bessborough grounds?
Motions:
That the Council finish off the repair of sections of footpaths not reached within Ardmahon Estate (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
That Pic du Jer Park Ballinlough be re-surfaced as a priority as the surface of the road is collapsing at its sides (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
That the Commemorative Plaques booklet published in recent years by the City Council be re-issued in light of the commemoration of the War of Independence (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That in light of the local office development at Penrose Quay to be opened this year, that a proper maintenance plan be affected for the Listening Posts sculpture (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Douglas Road Cllr Kieran McCarthy has called upon communities and organisations across Cork City to avail of a new Cork 2020 Commemorations Fund to support local events commemorating the centenary of the War of Independence – a monumental year in the history of the city.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “Cork City played a pivotal role in the country’s fight for freedom with two of the city’s Lord Mayors martyred in 1920 and the Burning of Cork by British Forces also taking place that December. Community, social and voluntary groups as well as schools can apply for funding under the open Cork 2020 Commemorations Fund. This is an opportunity for a community to come together to commemorate the events of such seismic year in Cork history. Application Forms can get got by emailing lord_mayor@corkcity.ie”.
Cork is set to host a major state event in 2020 to mark the centenary of the War of Independence. In March 2019, a public consultation event was held at City Hall so that members of the public could share ideas on how the Decade of Centenaries 2019-2023 might be commemorated in Cork City. Participants shared their ideas at workshops that took place across the afternoon.
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. John Sheehan, who is chairing a cross-party committee of Elected Members on the 2020 commemorations, said: “Stories around the events of 1920 have been handed down for generations in Cork and local groups have been commemorating these events for many years. The Cork 2020 Commemorations Fund is about communities and organisations bringing our proud history to life in a respectful way that showcases the city’s rich cultural and historical fabric”.
Meanwhile, Cork City Council will hold a Special Meeting on January 30 to commemorate the centenary of the first meeting of Cork Corporation elected by proportional representation. This Special Meeting will be the first of a programme of events in Cork to mark the 1920 centenary. Under the steerage of Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr John Sheehan and a cross party committee of Elected Members, a rich and varied programme of events is planned for 2020 which is roundly described as ‘Cork’s 1916’.
