Vol. 100 No. 3
On behalf of Deputy Donnellan, I wish to put the following question, of which he gave private notice, to the Taoiseach:—
To ask the Taoiseach if, in view of the great desire of the Irish people to pay tribute to the memory of Michael Davitt, the Government would declare Monday next, the anniversary of Davitt's birth, a national holiday in order that the people would be afforded an opportunity of honouring the memory of one of Ireland's greatest sons.
The Deputy's suggestion is not practicable. A forced holiday without sufficient notice would cause very great inconvenience to the community as a whole. Besides, such a holiday would involve considerable loss in national production and consequent financial loss to employers or employees or to both. The attitude of the Government towards a State commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Michael Davitt was fully explained in the reply which I gave to a question addressed to me by Deputy A. Byrne on the 14th instant.
