The Dail Archives

[bojangles]

I wonder what got Oliver J Flanagan so exercised with what was in the article ?






Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - “Dublin Jewish Youth Monthly” Article.
Wednesday, 23 February 1944


Dáil Éireann Debate
Vol. 92 No. 1 Oliver J. Flanagan asked the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures if he will state whether an article offensive to a friendly nation and published in Issue No. 5, November/December of the Dublin Jewish Youth Monthly was submitted for censorship; if not, what action has been taken by him in the matter.

Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures (Mr. Aiken): The answer to the first part of the Deputy's question is in the negative.

As regards the second part, steps have been taken to ensure that the publisher will comply in future with the provisions of the Emergency Powers (No. 151) Order. Oliver J. Flanagan Is it possible that such a communication as this was published throughout the country without the Minister's knowledge? Further, the Minister is aware that when speeches were submitted to the Tipperary Star the Censor and the Minister's Department could see them, but they could not see this at all.

An Ceann Comhairle: The Deputy may not make a speech.

Mr. Flanagan: I am asking the Minister if he is aware of certain things. I suggest I am quite in order. Of course, I must admit that there is no one so blind as the person who does not want to see. Probably the Minister did not want to see this particular article, which was published in the Dublin Jewish Youth Monthly.

Mr. Aiken: The Deputy should get his pal, Deputy Dillon, to ask a supplementary question.

Mr. Flanagan:l Deputy Dillon is no pal of mine. In the ordinary course Deputy Dillon may be sympathetic on some matters.

[bojangles]

More comedy from Oliver J July 1943

Mr. Flanagan: I cannot for the life of me see why those men should be interned because of their views. Their views are the views of Wolfe Tone, or Pearse and of Connolly. Deputy [572] Dillon, a member of this House, says that this nation should be at war with England—that it should join in with her. Senator MacDermot, a member of the Oireachtas, in a broadcast from the United States some time ago said: “Shame on Ireland because she is not in the war with England, her best friend and ally.” That man was one of the Taoiseach's nominees in the Seanad. I wonder will he appear on his list for the Seanad this time? There was no Act to intern Deputy Dillon, and no order to arrest Senator MacDermot the moment he arrived here. I am surprised to see Deputy Dillon free, because if I said the things that he has said I would have been in jail long ago. The Guards in Mountrath tried to put me in jail. They had no case against me or I would be there.

I want to ask that the Emergency Powers Order which prevents the division of land from taking place, be immediately lifted. The Minister for Lands wrote me some time ago to say that there was not sufficient staff in the Land Commission to deal with the division of land. How is it that there are thousands of well educated young men being forced to take the emigrant ship, not from Galway Bay or Cobh this time to take them to the greater Ireland beyond the Atlantic, but to take them from Dun Laoghaire and Rosslare to the land beyond the Irish Sea, the land of our traditional enemy, to help England in her war effort against Germany? There is one thing that Germany did, and that was to rout the Jews out of their country. Until we rout the Jews out of this country it does not matter a hair's breadth what orders you make. Where the bees are there is the honey, and where the Jews are there is the money. I do not propose to detain the House further. I propose to vote against such Orders and actions, and I am doing so on Christian principles. The Minister for Justice could not give me a straight answer a few moments ago. I am sorry that I interrupted him in the heat of the discussion. Of course, one needs great patience to listen to what is going on. I know very well that even the clergy in the Minister's constituency are up against him.

[573] Father Keane, the parish priest of Athleague, is up against him, and when the clergy are up against him surely it will be hard for any of us to support him. I thank the Chair for allowing me to make my statement.

Acting-Chairman: I have given the Deputy far more latitude than he was entitled to. the domestic censorship, the ordinary citizen is suffering, too.

[cogito]

...Oliver J. Flanagan asked the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures if he will state whether an article offensive to a friendly nation and published in Issue No. 5, November/December of the Dublin Jewish Youth Monthly was submitted for censorship; if not, what action has been taken by him in the matter.

...There is one thing that Germany did, and that was to rout the Jews out of their country. Until we rout the Jews out of this country it does not matter a hair's breadth what orders you make. Where the bees are there is the honey, and where the Jews are there is the money...

The 'friendly nation' in question was Nazi Germany...

[bojangles]

Mr. Corry: ——what would be the position of this country in August, 1939? Supposing the war started in August of 1932 how much bread would there be for our people in this country, when we were dependent on the bag of flour Uncle Bull sent across, and we could not even mill it here? That was the situation we had to work against, and, whatever may be said against the manner in which the Government have used their power from 1939 up to the present, at least they must get credit for this much, that they had 250,000 acres of wheat growing the year war started. We hear complaints about the scarcity of supplies here. Deputy Hannigan told us about a special department set up in England to get in supplies. Supplies of what? They had a special agent down in my parish last week buying crows at a “tanner” a time to feed themselves. They had eaten all the vermin that were in this country in the shape of rabbits. Anyone reading an English paper knows that they get three eggs a month.

Mr. Corish: I Crows' eggs?

Mr. Corry: God alone knows.

Mr. Davin: Your number is wrong.

Mr. Corry: They might be like the eggs Deputy Cosgrave gave us in Newbridge in 1923. I did not eat an egg since.

Dr. O'Higgins:T I suppose that is why you have so many crows.

Mr. Corry:In the past week crows have been bought at 6d. each in Cork for export to Britain. They have eaten all the rabbits. They have no more rabbits to get, and now they are on the crows.

Captain Giles: What about rats?

[2397]Mr. Corry: That may happen before this war is over, and I for one will not cry.

Mr. Byrne: Shame! There are a couple of hundred thousand of our men over there being fed, and you wish for rats for them. Shame on you! The Minister should repudiate that instantly.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: The Deputy might come to the Vote.

Mr. Corry: I think I am on the Vote, Sir—very much so. I am dealing with statements made here with regard to supplies, and the advice we got here from Deputy Hannigan when he told us about the special department set up in England for ensuring that they had sufficient supplies. I showed what became of it.

Mr. Davin: He stated facts. Did he not?

Mr. Corry: I showed what became of it. They have come down to eating crows. We have not got as far as that yet.

Dr. O'Higgins: . The Deputy's speech will be helpful to us in getting further supplies.

Mr. Corry: I would not like to see too many crows going out to feed them. I think the crows are too good for them.

Dr. O'Higgins: The Deputy's speech will help us to get something instead of them.

Mr. Corry: That is the point I should like to stress.

An Leas-Cheann Comhair 'I think the Deputy has stressed it strongly enough. He might get back to the Vote.



This was from March 1942 , hard to believe this sort of talk was acceptable .. even then

[bojangles]

Adjournment Debate. - Punishment of Industrial Schoolboy.
Friday, 23 April 1954


Captain Cowan: I gave notice this morning that, on the Adjournment of the Dáil, I would raise the matter of a boy who received injuries in Artane Industrial School on the 14th of this month. I want to state briefly to the Dáil the facts as they were reported to me. The boy concerned is aged 14½ years. He has been in Artane Industrial School for one and a half years, and, during his period there, his conduct has been satisfactory. On the 14th of this month he was punished for some boyish altercation with another boy. Apparently, as I am informed, before the punishment was inflicted, the doors were locked, the windows closed and the punishment, which was the normal punishment, was inflicted in the presence of all of his classmates. The punishment, I am informed, consisted [947] of a number of slaps on the hand from the punishment leather that is generally used for that purpose, but on the completion of that punishment the boy was ordered to submit to further punishment with the edge of the strap and he refused to accept that punishment. The Brother in charge sent for another Brother to come in. Apparently the boy who was being punished felt that the Brother was being brought in for the purpose of compelling him to receive this additional punishment to which he objected. Whatever his boyish mind was, he ran from the place in which he was being punished, lifted a sweeping brush, which was apparently standing in a corner, and held it up as a protection. At this stage, the second Brother arrived and seeing the bush in the boy's hands, snatched it from him, struck him on the head injuring him, struck him on the back injuring him, struck him on the arm and broke his arm. That happened on the 14th and the boy was taken to hospital on the 16th instant when his arm was set in plaster and is still in plaster.

The mother of the boy, although she lives not too distant from the school, was not informed of the injury the boy had received, but she heard about it during the week-end.

She sought to see the Superior but was refused permission to do so. In regard to that, I should perhaps make it plain that, so far as I am informed, there was on that particular point apparently some misunderstanding but she sought the Superior during that week-end and did not see him. She saw him on the first occasion on Tuesday of this week when the Superior admitted to her that the boy had received the injuries I have mentioned and that he had been taken to hospital. She did not see the boy. Whether he was then in hospital or not, I am not in a position to say but she did not see the boy. She came to me about half past eight yesterday morning. I communicated by telephone with the Superior and she was then allowed to see her boy. She was shocked at the state in which she [948] found him. Yesterday was the 22nd; the incident occurred on the 14th and eight days afterwards, on the 22nd, she saw the boy. I, immediately, having heard her story as to what had happened, sent a telegram to the Minister asking him to investigate the matter and I stated in that telegram that I would raise the matter on the Adjournment of the Dáil, and you, Sir, have kindly given me permission to raise it now.

These boys, who are sent to these schools by the courts, are all the responsibility of the Minister for Education, and the Minister for Education, as I understand it, must answer to this House and to the country for the conditions under which the boys sent there by the courts are kept, the conditions under which they live, the conditions of punishment and matters of that kind.

I think the House and the country will want to have from the Minister an assurance that an incident such as has occurred in this case will not be permitted to occur again. I am informed that the Brother who injured the boy was barely past 21 years of age, not much older than the little boy who was injured in the fashion I have described. I think the House will want an assurance from the Minister, and the country will want an assurance from him, that punishment, if it is to be inflicted on those sent to industrial schools, will be inflicted by some person of experience and responsibility. If punishment were to be imposed in a fit of hot temper, it would be exceptionally bad and, in fact, as in this case, it would be dangerous.

I regret very much that I have had to mention or raise this matter in this House. I have lived for many years convenient to Artane Schools. For many years, whenever I was asked, I have been a subscriber to the funds of the schools. I have seen their boys week after week passing my house, looking exceptionally fit, well clothed and happy. All of us have seen their magnificent band playing on big occasions in Croke Park and it would be regrettable that an incident, such as I have mentioned in this case, should be permitted under any circumstances to occur in a school of that kind. I myself [949] personally am satisfied that it is an isolated instance. I am satisfied that the superiors will take appropriate action against the Brother concerned. The very fact that the incident did occur shows how necessary it is that this House, through the machinery of the Department of Education and through the Minister charged with that responsibility, should have the closest supervision of schools such as this, where children, many of them without parents at all, are sent to be brought up.

This incident, when I heard it yesterday morning and heard the details subsequently, profoundly shocked me. I am perfectly certain that the fact that it has been raised in this House, that the Minister has investigated it, will ensure that no similar incident will occur in the future. It will be a guarantee to the parents and relatives of children who are in these industrial schools that this House and the Minister and the staff of the Department will jealously guard and protect those children while they are under the care of the State in these institutions.

Minister for Education (Mr. Moylan): I think Deputy Cowan has been quite reasonable in admitting that this is an isolated incident and that in general his appreciation of the work of the Artane School and of the condition of the children there has not lessened. The boy was hit and his arm was broken. I would be as much concerned as the Deputy is if I thought it was anything other than a very isolated incident and in one sense what might be called an accident. I would not tolerate cruelty to any boy or misuse of any boy in any institution. I visited Artane and found the boys were healthy and well cared for. I visited the schools there and it struck me that there was great evidence of very earnest endeavour, even of notable achievement, in the schools. It would be very difficult to improve the conditions under which the schools operate, certainly without a very substantial subvention from this House for the upkeep of the schools and for the development of what may be essential and necessary there. I would like to remind the House that the community provided the lands in Artane, the building and [950] the equipment from their own resources; and they did this in a Christian endeavour to ameliorate certain conditions the development of which had not been provided for in any way by anyone. I cannot conceive any deliberate ill-treatment of boys by a community motivated by the ideals of its founder. I cannot conceive any sadism emanating from men who were trained to a life of sacrifice and of austerity. They are also trained to have great devotion to a very high purpose.



I deeply regret that there should be such a happening and I appreciate the anxiety of the boy's mother. Apart from my high regard for the Brothers concerned, the community concerned, there is also a very constant system of inspection for all such institutions. I personally have visited practically all of them and I make personal and constant inquiry as to what is happening in them. I know in that particular school how deep is the anxiety for the children's spiritual and physical welfare. This is an isolated incident; it can only happen again as an accident.

[951] I hope it will never happen again. I have not neglected full inquiry into the working of these schools at any time. There are conditions that should be created in all these schools, they are deficient in many things; but that will cost a good deal more money from the State than the relatively small amount that is paid now. These things are essential from the point of view of the children. Unfortunately, this year I have not been able to make provision for the things I need in those schools; but Deputies will remember that in future a wider provision must be made [952] if these schools are to serve the purpose they ought to serve in the nation.

This is an isolated incident. I wish to express my sympathy to the parents of the child and I can assure them that nothing of the like will happen again. While giving this as a guarantee to parents and knowing the difficult conditions under which the school is run, I would point out to parents that any guarantee I give them of full protection for their children is no licence to any of the children to do what they like.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.20 p.m.

[bojangles]

The 'friendly nation' in question was Nazi Germany...

With friends like that etc......

[bojangles]

A non politically correct exchange from 1951


Mr. Corry: Apparently the Minister whom Deputy Corish put in charge of the agriculture of this country thought that the Irish people were niggers, because he wanted them to work for less wages than niggers receive. And yet we wonder why the Irish farmer is not responding! I suppose the idea of some Deputies is that the Irish farmer is like the nigger, the more you kick him the more he will produce, and the tighter you make him draw his belt the harder he will work. Is that the [1332] idea behind all this? Was there any justification for the paying out of Irish taxpayers' money some extra million pounds to the foreigner for producing that which could be produced here at least as cheaply?

One gentleman here to-night with a very nice little voice told us that it is only a small matter of £90,000,000 which was on the wrong side. That was a mere bagatelle, but putting 4/6 a ton on the price of beet was more than a bagatelle. That was the second portion of the Rake's Progress.

We come now to the basis and foundation of Irish agriculture, which is the cattle industry. The cattle industry has as its foundation the milch cow. I was only a greenhorn in this House and nearly as green as my colleague, Deputy O'Sullivan, is now——

Mr. Sweetman: That would be very hard to imagine.

[bojangles]

The same Deputy in a debate 15 years later in 1966



Corry: That foreign sugar was imported at £12 a ton higher than the price of the best white sugar leaving our own factory. When I saw the imports and the price, [710] I went to the then General Manager of the Sugar Company, General Costello, and I said: “We never fought in this country to have a foreign nigger getting £12 a ton more for his sugar than an Irish farmer”.

Mr. Corish: What is a “nigger”?

Mr. Corry: He agreed with me.

Mr. Corish: What is a nigger?

Mr. Booth: In a woodpile.

Mr. T.F. O'Higgins: On a point of order, I want to know how is this rubbish Deputy Corry is talking relevant to the motion we are discussing here?

An Leas-Cheann Deputy Corry is now discussing facets of agriculture.

Mr. Corish: I do not think he should be allowed to describe people who are not of the same colour as people in this country as “niggers.”

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: “Niggers” is not a disorderly word.

Mr. Corish: It may not be, within the traditions of the House, but I think it is an objectionable word.

Mr. Coughlan: You would not like to be called a nigger.
inflammatory sentence I uttered during the course of the campaign. I challenge him now or tomorrow in the press to quote, by letter or otherwise, any inflammatory statement I made during the by-election campaigns. If he succeeds, I will acknowledge it immediately.

[quinner]

well, i can assure people......that was not an isolated incident.........

in artane or dangean..............

[bojangles]

well, i can assure people......that was not an isolated incident.........

in artane or dangean..............

Yes Joe , but just little snippets got out then .

[bojangles]

From 1960












Criminal Justice Bill, 1960—Second Stage

Question again proposed: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”

Captain Giles: I take a different line from that of most Deputies in connection with prison reform. It is not an opportune time to bring it in. As far as juvenile delinquency is concerned, it is no harm to reform there and make some effort to put these people on the straight road and so avoid making criminals of them. Deputy Dillon read an extract from an ex-prisoner's book—I think it was ex-Deputy Cowan's book — to the effect that flies were getting in the food. There could be some substance in that complaint. When I was in prison, one of our first complaints was that flies and insects of all kinds were getting in our food. When you got your porringer of porridge, you had to get a spoon and stir the porridge up to get five or six cockroaches out of it. I hope it is not so bad to-day. If it is, ex-Deputy Cowan is quite right in raising this matter. After all, food should be served in a proper manner.

When I was in prison in Scotland, we complained about all the hairs in the soup, if you could call it soup. We got no reply. It was only about three months afterwards, when we were released, that two of the attendants in [642] the cook-house asked us if we remembered having made a complaint. We said we did. They said not only were there hairs in the soup but we ate a cat Somebody shot at a cat in a field and it got into the boiler and so we had cat soup.

I wish the Minister well. I hope that the improvements he is endeavouring to carry out will be of benefit to the country. I hope that when he does this, these people who are abnormal criminals over the years will have a change of heart. If we do make concessions to them, I hope they will show their appreciation by respecting the law. If they do not, we must rely upon strict justice. We should first speak for the victims of those criminals and not for the criminals themselves. When a young man embarks upon a life of crime, we should do what we can to get him to mend his ways, and the only way to do that is by sending him to a school where he will learn Christian doctrine and come out a good citizen.

[quinner]

at a time when raping young miscreants was rife........his only problem was a few cockroaches..and hairs in his soup.......wasn't he lucky that get got fecking soup....

[sheelbee]

From 1960












Criminal Justice Bill, 1960—Second Stage

Question again proposed: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”

Captain Giles: I take a different line from that of most Deputies in connection with prison reform. It is not an opportune time to bring it in. As far as juvenile delinquency is concerned, it is no harm to reform there and make some effort to put these people on the straight road and so avoid making criminals of them. Deputy Dillon read an extract from an ex-prisoner's book—I think it was ex-Deputy Cowan's book — to the effect that flies were getting in the food. There could be some substance in that complaint. When I was in prison, one of our first complaints was that flies and insects of all kinds were getting in our food. When you got your porringer of porridge, you had to get a spoon and stir the porridge up to get five or six cockroaches out of it. I hope it is not so bad to-day. If it is, ex-Deputy Cowan is quite right in raising this matter. After all, food should be served in a proper manner.

When I was in prison in Scotland, we complained about all the hairs in the soup, if you could call it soup. We got no reply. It was only about three months afterwards, when we were released, that two of the attendants in [642] the cook-house asked us if we remembered having made a complaint. We said we did. They said not only were there hairs in the soup but we ate a cat Somebody shot at a cat in a field and it got into the boiler and so we had cat soup.

I wish the Minister well. I hope that the improvements he is endeavouring to carry out will be of benefit to the country. I hope that when he does this, these people who are abnormal criminals over the years will have a change of heart. If we do make concessions to them, I hope they will show their appreciation by respecting the law. If they do not, we must rely upon strict justice. We should first speak for the victims of those criminals and not for the criminals themselves. When a young man embarks upon a life of crime, we should do what we can to get him to mend his ways, and the only way to do that is by sending him to a school where he will learn Christian doctrine and come out a good citizen.

BoJo, this is great stuff, if you said this today you would be laughed out of town..........But that Fornicating TD comes to mind and I say to myself have things really changed................keep it up..

[bojangles]

BoJo, this is great stuff, if you said this today you would be laughed out of town..........But that Fornicating TD comes to mind and I say to myself have things really changed................keep it up..

Thanks Sheelbee , I have to do a bit of trawling its worth it .

[bojangles]

Dont Drink the Water



nswers. - Manifestations of Fluoride Intoxication.
Tuesday, 6 June 1961


Dáil Eireann Debate
Vol. 189 No. 10


Mr. Ryan: asked the Minister for Health whether his Department have considered the submissions by Mr. G.L. Waldbott, published this year by the American Medical Association, that manifestations of fluoride intoxication from drinking water include pain and stiffness in the joints, especially in the lower spine, paralysis, auditory disturbances, convulsions, mental deterioration, cardiac damage, inhibition of thoracic movement, spastic constipation and pain, constipation alternating with diarrhoea, colitis, stomatitis, dermatitis and arthritic changes; and, if so, if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Mr. MacEntee): According to the latest statistics, over [1316] 37 million Americans drink fluoridated water. I refuse to believe that, due to that fact, they suffer from any or all of the long catalogue of disabling conditions cited in the question.