Was defeat inevitable for Cumann na nGaedheal in the 1932 general election? By John Hanamy Thesis completed under the supervision of Dr Bernadette Whelan in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of M.A. in History at the University of Limerick. 2013 Table of contents Page Abstract ……………………………………………………………………. ii Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………. iii List of tables ………………………………………………………………. iv List of appendices …………………………………………………………. v Chapter One Introduction …………………………………………………………………. 1 Chapter Two The timing of the election and Cumann na nGaedheal’s election strategy …. 10 Chapter Three Election policies: Fianna Fáil, The Labour Party, The Farmers’ Party Independents and others ……………………………………………………. 38 Chapter Four Newspaper coverage of the final week of the election campaign, 8-16 February 1932 ………………………………………………………… 68 Chapter Five Election results: An analysis of the ten seats lost by Cumann na nGaedheal ……………………………………………………… 97 Chapter Six Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 141 Appendices ……………………………………………………………….. 146 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………… 160 i Abstract Was defeat inevitable for Cumann na nGaedheal in the 1932 general election? By John Hanamy This thesis looks at the election that terminated the first government of the Irish Free State, and effectively the career of the party that formed that government. An analysis of the policies of Cumann na nGaedheal in 1932 and a comparison of those policies with those of the main opposition party Fianna Fáil will determine why the party lost power. An examination of the support base of the party and Cumann na nGaedheal’s loyalty to its supporters will demonstrate that the government party had little choice in the policies it offered to the voters in the election. The methodology chosen to carry out this analysis is a series of research issues relevant to the period under examination. These issues are: The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921; the Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch; the policy of paying the land annuities to the British exchequer; and the economic situation obtaining in Ireland at the time of the election combined with the issue of trade relations with Britain. Other useful research areas are the problem of unemployment, the question of law and order and the role of the media during the period under analysis, January-February 1932. These questions are relevant in so far as they formed the election policies of the parties contesting seats and the subjects of many of the debates during the campaign. An analysis of the ten seats lost by Cumann na nGaedheal during the election is also provided in order to give an indication as to why the government party may have lost power in 1932. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Bernadette Whelan, for her guidance and critical analysis of my work at every step of the way. I would also like to thank Catherine Duff, Toni Jane Reddin, Michael Sinnott, Michelle O’Dea, Dermot O’Brien, Declan Jackson and my sister Liz Devereaux without whose help I may never have embarked on this adventure. Also, and especially, my Father who was so supportive during the period of my studies. iii List of tables: Table 4.1. The number of times campaign issues appeared in speeches...........79 Table 4.2.The number of reports of the main speakers.....................................81 Table 5.1..Seats and candidates at the 1932 general election…….................. 103 Table 5.2. Results of the Cork East election………………………………… 107 Table 5.3. Results of the Donegal election………………………………….. 110 Table 5.4. Results of the Dublin North election…………………………….. 114 Table 5.5. Results of the Kerry election…………………………………….. 118 Table 5.6. Results of the Leitrim Sligo election…………………………….. 119 Table 5.7. Results of the Limerick election…………………………………. 124 Table 5.8. Results of the Meath election…………………………………….. 128 Table 5.9. Results of the Roscommon election……………………………… 130 Table 5.10. Results of the Tipperary election……………………………….. 133 Table 5.11. Results of the National University election…………………….. 136 iv List of appendices: Appendix I. Map of Dáil constituencies of Ireland 1923-37...................................................151 Appendix II. Title page of Fighting Points for Cumann na nGaedheal Speakers and Workers………………………………..................153 Appendix III. Cumann na nGaedheal front page newspaper election advertisement………………………………………………… .....155 Fianna Fáil newspaper election advertisement………………...... 156 Appendix IV. Examples of two election posters. ‘His Masters Voice’……………………………………………….158 Ernest Blythe……………………………………………………....159 v Chapter One Introduction This thesis will attempt to answer the question posed in the title, ‘Was defeat inevitable for Cumann na nGaedheal in 1932?’ The question is a prompt for a further question: could Cumann na nGaedheal have done anything to avoid losing power in 1932? This work will examine a significant election in the history of the Irish state which is frequently referred to, and occasionally analysed but to date has not been the subject of any intrinsic study. This thesis will attempt to add to the scholarship of the period by examining the primary source material, particularly the newspaper coverage of the election campaign and challenging some of the opinions expressed in the historiography. The thesis will question current scholarship on the timing of the election and the consensus that the government party fought the campaign solely on the issue of law and order. There is an attempt to correct certain inaccuracies with regard to the election results in secondary sources and a desire to clarify the positions of some of the smaller parties. Essentially the work will focus on the policies of Cumann na nGaedheal, particularly with regard to the concerns of the party’s supporters and focus on the economic issues that, this thesis will argue, lost the government party power in 1932. When W.T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council and party leader, dissolved the Dáil on 29 January 1932, the Cumann na nGaedheal party had held power for almost a decade.1 They had fought three elections in that period, August 1923, June 1927 and September 1927. The first of those elections saw the party’s main opposition party, Sinn Féin, abstain, and the Labour Party returned with only 1 J.E. Doherty and D.J. Hickey, A Chronology of Irish History Since 1500 (Dublin, 1989), p.206. 1 fourteen seats, Cumann na nGaedheal formed a government with a comfortable majority of sixty-three seats. In the election held in June 1927 Cumann na nGaedheal lost seventeen seats, returning with a reduced majority of fifty-seven seats and in the second election of that year, September 1927, they succeeded in retaining power with a narrow majority of sixty-two seats.2 The fact that in the latter two elections Cumann na nGaedheal faced a new party, Fianna Fáil, may have contributed to the reduction in its votes. Throughout its parliamentary tenure Cumann na nGaedheal was a minority party, dependent on the support of other smaller parties in the Dáil.3 Its privileged position in governing without an effective opposition in its first four years of power enabled it to achieve significant achievements in rebuilding the country after the Civil War and establishing an independent sovereign state based on a new relationship with its former colonial ruler Britain. It is worth noting the approach adopted by the party to implement these policies. Firstly it had an unwavering commitment to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, especially the Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch. This position became almost a dogma of belief for the party who regarded any attempt to alter its terms as a threat to the existence of the state. The payment of the land annuities to the British Exchequer, another of the clauses in the 1921 Treaty and the Government of Ireland Act of 1920, was also the basis of the Free State government’s relations with Britain. Ireland’s economy was dominated by agricultural exports to Britain.4 The consequences of the Wall Street Crash in October 1929 took over a year to have an impact on the Irish economy but by 1931 exports had dropped to their lowest level 2 Ibid, p.211. 3 Michael Gallagher, Electoral Support for Irish Political Parties (Surrey, 1976), p.30. 4 Eunan O’Halpin, Politics and the State, in J.R. Hill, (ed), A New History of Ireland Vol VII, 1921-84 (Oxford, 2003), p.113. 2 since the Civil War.5 Cumann na nGaedheal were reluctant to impose trade tariffs at a time when most other nations were protecting their economies with duties. The question of tariffs especially in relation to the domestic agricultural market was a crucial one during the election. Unemployment was also a factor during the election warranting a parliamentary debate on the dissolution of the sixth Dáil on 17 December 1931.6 Unemployment figures as high as 80,000 were mentioned7 and the issue featured in many speeches delivered during the election campaign. The question of law and order was one that appeared in many newspaper reports during the election, dividing the main parties and some Independents into two camps; those who feared a descent into anarchy and those who worried that the government had become too draconian and autocratic. It was an important campaign issue for Cumann na nGaedheal in 1932 but it was by no means the only one. Cumann na nGaedheal lost ten seats in 1932 out of sixty-six but five TDs had joined the party since the September 1927 general election.8 When the 1932 losses are subtracted from the total seats won in the previous election (sixty-two), Cumann na nGaedheal could be said to have lost only five seats. Its share of the popular vote fell by only 3.4 per cent and the party’s first preference vote in counties Louth, Waterford, Wexford and Cork City well exceeded that of Fianna Fáil.9 The 1932 general election was far from a disaster for Cumann na nGaedheal in spite of having lost power with fifty-seven seats out of 153 Dáil seats, the party was still the second largest in the Dáil.