Birth pangs of state recalled

It was far from rosy in the years post independence.

“It’s not exactly a cheerful talk,” admits Professor Mary Daly of her forthcoming lecture exploring what life was like for the people of Cavan in the early decades after independence this week.

The talk ‘No Promised Land: life in Ireland in the early years after independence’ is the third instalment of the Autumn History Series run by County Cavan Library Services. Given the title, the Celt wonders if a promise had ever been made?

“There was the democratic programme from Dáil Éireann, which promised the end to poverty and all kinds of wonderful stuff in 1919, which was very fanciful frankly at the time. The realities after independence were pretty grim,” said Professor Daly.

Professor Daly is eager to concentrate on the experiences of ordinary people, which in Cavan was a relatively homogeneous group: small farmers. She explains how the 1920s are “a really tough time” for Irish farming with prices falling and remaining relatively stagnant for half a century.

“World War One was great for Irish farmers – the next best period was post-EEC, there’s nothing in between that’s even remotely comparable for the Irish farmer,” reports Professor Daly.

“The survival of the Irish Free State was really perilous, financially and every other way. You had a government that was trying to deal with all types of stuff – a very hostile banking system that was unionist and didn’t want the country to exist – the damage of the civil war, the war of Independence, a big army they had to pay off, so it was a really tough time.”

On the priorities of those to mollify, farmers’ interests were subordinate to those who had been prioritised under the British regime: the business class.

“The resources available to the government to do anything about it are very limited – they are having to be aware of keeping the big tax payers in the country – the businesses and all the rest, so they cut income tax.”

From a contemporary vantage point cutting income taxes sounds like it should help working families, but far from it.

“The likes of you or me would not have been paying income tax,” says the professor, explaining how the tax burden of the nascent State was carried by the wealthy.

“Only the rich paid it – the numbers are tiny, but they want to keep them in the country and they want to keep their money in the country.”

Protecting the mercantile class trumped even the interests of the most vulnerable - pensioners. Pension costs accounted for about one fifth of national expenditure, and in 1924 the Minister for Finance Ernest Blythe cut it from 10 shillings per week to nine.

“The pension was a nuclear issue given the number of families who had a pensioner living with them. If you are a small farmer, a 10 shilling a week pension that your mother or father had, that was really important. It was cash that would cover a few nice things.”

Charities played a role in keeping people alive, as well as benevolent clergy, but family support was the most important lifeline.

“Ultimately a lot of people survived because an older brother supported them, an uncle – you are very dependent on your family – and when you didn’t have that family or fell out with them, God help you.”

Prof Mary Daly’s talk is on Thursday, October 16 at 7pm in Johnston Central Library, Booking advised: 049 4378500