The spirit of the nation of Ireland, 1931

[MacAvoydgeen]

The quality of the public libraries in Irish Republic from the 1930s through 1950s was atrocious and pathetic, but, because most Irish Catholic adults did not and would not read books, the fact that the libraries were pitiful travesties of the name was of little practical consequence.

The right of the Catholic Church to bar any Protestant as a librarian was successfully asserted in a famous public controversy in County Mayo in 1931, and the details are worth recording. Miss Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, a Protestant graduate of Trinity College, was appointed in that year to be the county librarian of the Carnegie Library in Castlebar, with certain advisory functions for the whole of County Mayo. No one questioned her intellectual fitness, her professional training, or the legality of her appointment, but the local branch of Catholic Action immediately began a bitter campaign against her on denominational and patriotic grounds. Although she was a native of Dublin and had been educated entirely in Ireland, it was claimed that her knowledge of the Irish language was limited. The Catholic Church, it was said, had certain definite rules about books, rules which a non-Catholic librarian might not interpret correctly or enforce rigidly. The Mayo County library committee, headed by a Catholic bishop, voted against her appointment, two dissenting votes being cast by Protestants. The overwhelmingly Catholic Mayo County Council, supporting its library committee, refused to take the necessary steps to install Miss Dunbar-Harrison as librarian. Since the power to appoint a county librarian lay with the national government, headed at that time by William Cosgrave, the responsibility for action rested with the Dublin authorities. They bravely and promptly abolished the Mayo County Council -- as they had the right to do -- "for its failure to carry out an order of the Ministry." This courageous gesture received the warm praise of the Irish Times for a "bold stand for fair play"; but bravery was totally unavailing against the campaign of intolerance which was then inaugurated by the local leaders of Catholic Action, headed by the district bishop.

The expelled Council members met and advised a tax strike. From all over the country came resolutions by other County Councils backing up the threatened tax rebellion. In some cases Catholic parades of protest were organized, headed by bands and banners. In Ballina the Rev. Denis O'Connor, chairman of the library committee, said: "A Protestant young lady has been appointed as our library adviser. Her culture and philosophy are, on many vital questions, diametrically opposed to Catholic principles and Catholic ideas, and therefore we, as Catholics, cannot be guided by her in selecting the literature that we need." From many parts of County Mayo bundles of books were shipped back to the Carnegie Library in protest against Miss Dunbar-Harrison's appointment. If the people could not have a Catholic librarian, they made clear, they would not have a library at all. The Catholic Archbishop, Dr. Gilmartin, made the principle behind the boycott quite clear. In the Irish Times he said:

"It is gratifying to see how the representatives of our Catholic people are unwilling to subsidize libraries not under Catholic control. Not to speak of those who are alien to our faith, it is not every Catholic who is fit to be in charge of a public library for Catholic readers. Such an onerous position should be assigned to an educated Catholic who would be as remarkable for his loyalty to his religion as for his literary and intellectual attainments."

De Valera, then the leader of the Opposition, seized the opportunity to make political capital out of Catholic indignation. He encouraged the critics of Miss Dunbar-Harrison by raising the question whether it was logical to have a non-Catholic librarian in a county which was 98 per cent Catholic. The Catholic Bulletin jumped into the fray and elaborated the philosophy behind Archbishop Gilmartin's pronouncement. It said:

"Dr. Gilmartin's words make the radical injustice of this bullying tyranny quite plain. A librarian alien to our Faith is not fit for the onerous position. It is one necessarily involving the use of moral and educational influence.... Only a thoroughly educated Catholic man or woman, loyal to and energetic in the cause of Catholic Action, can be deemed fit for the highly reasonable and influential post of County Librarian."

After that, the government was compelled to surrender as gracefully as possible, and Miss Dunbar-Harrison was finally transferred to a good position elsewhere. The inevitable happened, and today the Irish Republic does not have a single Protestant county librarian. Father Stephen Brown, a leading Dublin Jesuit, in his "Libraries and Literature from a Catholic Standpoint" has put the Church's position this way: "As we know in English speaking countries, Ireland not excluded, Catholics have to live in a mental climate that is far from being Catholic. We must be inoculated against it, we must take measures so that the climatic conditions may not offset our spiritual health."

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ALL OF THE ABOVE IS TAKEN FROM A BOOK PUBLISHED IN 1953 CALLED "THE IRISH AND CATHOLIC POWER" BY PAUL BLANCHARD. The word "today" in the book means 1953. The full book is freely downloadable at Archive.org.

[seabhcan]

The dark ages. Shocking.

[H.R. Haldeman]

Looks like we were Abu Hamza not long ago. That is to say, warped sickos.

And hats off to Mr. Blanchard for being on top of this way back in 1953.

[lapsedmethodist]

Expect more of this when Northern Nationalists take power. There was a perfectly good Sunday soap/drama in the form of Glenroe which was axed by Cathal Goan when he got a bit of power. Glenroe wasn't exactly revolutionary but it was funny. In it's place we got; what did we get... oh yes that memorable drama about the GAA. What was it called? But hey, who cares.. Glenroe had a Protestant minister and an Anglo in it. Had to go !!

You can take the boy outa the Falls but you can't take.......

[fergalr]

Listen, the cultural legacy of Ireland's 20th century is child rape mixed with terrorism. That's what it'll be remembered for.

[Arcadius]

Listen, the cultural legacy of Ireland's 20th century is child rape mixed with terrorism. That's what it'll be remembered for.

The future judgement of our past should be more complex than you believe.
Despite (or because of?) its many flaws 20th century Ireland left behind an astonishing literary legacy:
Yeats, Beckett, Joyce, Heaney, Shaw, O'Nolan, Kavanagh, Friel, Behan, etc.

Ireland is probably the only place in the world where the past is harder to predict than the future.

[fergalr]

Ireland is probably the only place in the world where the past is harder to predict than the future.

Very nice line.

[lapsedmethodist]

The future judgement of our past should be more complex than you believe.
Despite (or because of?) its many flaws 20th century Ireland left behind an astonishing literary legacy:
Yeats, Beckett, Joyce, Heaney, Shaw, O'Nolan, Kavanagh, Friel, Behan, etc.

Ireland is probably the only place in the world where the past is harder to predict than the future.

Thats the Venice versus Switzerland proposal isn't it ? Adversity creating great art, while tranquility gives you cukoo clocks and Toblerone.

[Arcadius]

Thats the Venice versus Switzerland proposal isn't it ? Adversity creating great art, while tranquility gives you cukoo clocks and Toblerone.

I'm suspicious of that proposal myself, but Ireland might be a better example for it than Venice.

Venice's wars and murders were only indirectly linked to its patronage system and cultural output.
You could make a better case that the turmoil and repressiveness of 20th century Ireland helped inspire its writers.

(It also massively understates Switzerland's considerable scientific achievements, but that's another debate).