After the long and able argument we have heard from Deputy Redmond on this Bill, it may appear unnecessary further to occupy the time of the Dáil. But feeling as I do on this important question, I cannot reconcile myself to remain wholly silent upon it. When I looked at Deputy Redmond introducing this Bill, my mind went back to the days when I saw his great father championing the cause of the town tenants of Ireland in an alien assembly.
I ask any Deputy in this House to lay his hand upon his breast and say that the Government Party, with the majority of six votes when he introduced a similar Bill on behalf of the tenants of Ireland two years ago, were justified in delaying this measure or rather in shelving it, as they have done? A number of speeches have been delivered in the Dáil on this question, but like the grandfather of the Minister for Justice:
His hammer on the anvil comes ringing fast and free,
And he clinches all his arguments with one, two, three.
I have been through this House to-day and yesterday and what did I see? What did I see to-day? I saw members of the Government Party, like rats leaving a sinking ship, seeking the first train from Dublin to go back home and thus escape the vote that is to be taken on this question to-night. Coming events cast their shadows before them. We are told that the town tenants of Ireland count for nothing. There are 600,000 houses in the Saorstát. Of these, 420,000 are agricultural. If we subtract that 420,000 from the 600,000 that leaves you the number of town tenants. Someone said, "God made the country and man made the town." That is the argument put forward here. Who built the farmers' houses? They have security of tenure. I represent two counties in this assembly with a total of 62,000 of an electorate, and I say this that I saw numbers of houses built and rebuilt in these two counties. The farmers built these houses and their sons went into the towns and built up the towns, and, like the Siamese Twins, the life of the country is the life of the towns.
The other day I got the circular that was circulated amongst Deputies—a circular from the Houseowners' Association. I am very sorry to see that a great personal friend of mine and a colleague in a movement with which I am associated, is Chairman of that Association—Senator Sir John Keane. I read that circular carefully and it reminded me of some of those publications in the days of Parnell, Davitt, John Redmond and the men who steamrolled the road on the path of progress —I refer to the publication from the Unionist Alliance. He stated that this measure was a revolutionary measure. So it is. But in the last fifty years great changes have taken place in the Irish nation and amongst other peoples as well. He stated it was based on the Land Act of 1881 which was a revolutionary measure. It is based on commonsense and justice to which the town tenants as well as the farmers are entitled. On the 18th September, 1880, Charles Stewart Parnell visited Ennis previous to the passing of the Land Act of 1881, on which Sir John Keane and his confreres based their objection to this Bill.
What did Parnell say in Ennis? He said: "Depend upon it that the measure of the Bill of next Session will be the measure of your energy and activity next winter.""It will be," he said, "the measure of your determination to keep a firm grip in your homesteads; it will be the measure of your determination not to pay unjust rents and not to bid for farms from which other men have been evicted unjustly.""What are you to do with a man who bids for a farm from which another man has been evicted unjustly?" he asked. "Shoot him," said some fellow. "No," Parnell said, "I think I can point out a better, more Christian and more charitable way, and one that will give that lost man an opportunity of repenting. If you meet a man who bids for a farm from which another man has been evicted unjustly, shun him on the roadside, shun him in the streets of the town, and in the place of public worship, by leaving him alone, isolated from the rest of mankind like the leper of old. These are the tactics you should adopt." I say to the town tenants of Ireland:—Never mind the Commission; the Bill of next session or the next Parliament will depend on the energy and the activity of the town tenants.
I know from reports I have received from the towns that are in my constituency that no people will vote more determinedly against the Government than the town tenants. Why? Because they have been treated badly. I did not intend to speak in this debate at all, and the reason I rose is that I can see a lot of what is going on. Out of 153 Deputies, a few of us come here with the courage of our convictions. I admire men who have the courage of their convictions to stand to attention when called upon by Parties. What has happened? They have disappeared. You will see that when the Vote is taken. What is the result? The result is that this question is still unsettled. A Commission! There is an old saying in the country, "Put a wisp in that fellow's mouth," if a fellow gets up. "Stop that ass from braying."
That is something similar to the attitude adopted towards Deputies, especially private Deputies, in this House. I have been often in what is known generally as the first assembly of gentlemen in Europe in which there are between 600 and 700 members. In that assembly a private member is always welcome when he brings in a Bill. The Irish members, and there were only 103 of them, when they were in the House of Commons brought in many private Bills. Deputy Redmond introduced a private Bill in that House. His uncle Major Redmond, had the Corporation Oath removed by introducing a Bill there. A Senator who was elected yesterday also has a Bill to his credit in that Assembly. Mr. John Clancy also had a Bill passed. What I do object to is the personal rancour and bitterness that has been directed from the Ministerial Benches to a gentleman of the type of Deputy Redmond. Whether the Executive Council like it or not, Deputy Redmond stands shoulders high over any of them with the Irish people, and especially town tenants.
This is not an election speech. I never play to the gallery. What I have to say, I say. I have been for three years in this Assembly, which represents the people, and I stand behind it. But Commissions will not satisfy me. I have seen too many Commissions set up. Commissions were appointed for this, that, and the other, without any material result. I raised a very important question here with reference to the administration of old age pensions and a Commission was set up to inquire into it. You have a Food Prices Commission which is like the running brook. I could continue ad infinitum. A Commission will not satisfy the Irish people. I have been actively engaged in public life for 20 years, and during that time the people who provided the sinews of war for the farmers in their fight for security of tenure and free sales were the people of the towns. I am delighted to have this opportunity, as a representative of 62,000 electors in two counties, to speak and vote for the Bill introduced by Deputy Redmond, and to show that the men on our benches are not as they were styled, a class party, but that they stand for Ireland a Nation and her people without discrimination.