Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 13 Jun 1951

Vol. 126 No. 1

Nomination of Taoiseach.

Aire Oideachais (Risteárd Ua Maolchatha)

Tairgim:—

Go n-ainmneoidh Dáil Éireann an Teachta Seán Ua Coisdealbha chun a cheapaithe ag an Uachtarán chun bheith in a Thaoiseach.

Breis agus trí bliain ó shoin, chuireas an tairiscint chéanna os chómhair na Dála, agus d'iarras ar an Dáil an Teachta Seán Ua Coisdealbha do thoghadh mar Thaoiseach. Dúirt an uair sin go dtiubharfadh sé isteach i saol poiblí, i saol polaitíochta na hÉireann spiorad nua agus níor tairiscint bhaoth é sin, mar, i rith na dtrí mbliana atá imithe, do thug sé isteach i saol polaitíochta na tíre spiorad na haondachta agus spiorad na huaisleachta a thug dóchas dár ndaoine go dtiocfadh tairbhe agus toradh as gach ní a dhein sé. Tháinig an spiorad nua i measc daoine na tíre seo. Bhi i gconaí in ár ndaoine spiorad na cneastachta. Ins gach aidhm a bhain le hárd aidhmeanna an náisiúin, bhí uaisleacht fé leith. Ach le fada ní raibh mórán rian den cneastacht san, den uaisleacht san, san obair pholaiticiúil. Bhí aighneas agus easaontas curtha isteach san obair sin, agus sa ghlún roimh an glún atá ann anois, cuireadh mórán de aidmh árd, agus chuaidh mórán den obair i leath taobh agus ar neamhnidh, de bharr easaontas san aidmh san. Ach san obair do rinne Seán Ua Coisdealbha le trí bliana anuas, tharraing sé an spiorad sin ar ais agus tá an spiorad sin ann anois.

In asking you to select Deputy John A. Costello as Taoiseach, I ask you to do it because, just as we promised when we asked the Dáil to nominate him as Taoiseach in February, 1948, just as we promised that he would bring a new spirit back into Irish politics, that promise has been very adequately fulfilled. In accepting the responsibility of being Taoiseach and of bringing together into the Government the number of Parties that sat in the Government under him, he brought back into our country that spirit of unity, that spirit of harmony, that spirit of strength that was eternally our strength in our struggle for our independence.

Nothing was more indicative of the man than that there should come to him in February, 1948, the Leader of Clann na Poblachta and the Leader of the Labour Party to ask him to surrender all his own private interests and accept the leadership of a Government at that time. I say that that very action, more than even his own action in doing it, and the work he has done since, was indicative of the man. We can all say that his work subsequent to that has lived up to the indications of his character and of his spirit of sacrifice. That is shown by the fact that men were able to come to him in the circumstances of February, 1948, and ask him: "Will you surrender your person, your business, and all your other interests, change the whole course and form of your life, and accept the leadership of an Irish Government to bring a number of Irish Parties together to form a Government?"

In the 20's he had seen opportunity after opportunity lost to our people because we were not able to carry on, into the days of our independence and our own national Parliament, the spirit of unity that enabled us to win that independence. All through the 30's he had seen opportunity after opportunity lost in strengthening our economy in the world circumstances of that particular time. All through the 40's, in a quickened atmosphere where our people's senses quickened with danger, he had seen opportunities lost to strengthen the cultural and spiritual life of our people—because there were these differences there.

We had all seen, in the way in which the 1948 election was fought by the present Opposition Party, that there was every likelihood that these ever-growing seeds of division and discontent were going to be continually spread among our people. In these circumstances, he accepted the responsibility of forming a Government. And in the three years and a half, approximately, that passed, every day that passed has strengthened the people's confidence in themselves and in their ability to face their difficulties and their ability to co-operate. The sacrifice that he made then is adequately reflected, not only in the work that has been done for the people and the work the people have been able to do, but in the realisation of the people's morale and in the lesson the people have learned for themselves that Irish Parties, Irishmen and Irishwomen are able to join together and impress the spirit of harmony and the spirit of unity on a Parliament and get an executive that will impress that spirit on its work of administration.

Unfortunately, in the last election we still saw the seeds of division being persistently sown by the present Opposition. We were able to hear a front bencher of the Fianna Fáil Party gibe at the possibility that a MacBride would work in an Irish Parliament or work in Irish circumstances with a MacEoin or a Mulcahy; we were able to hear gibes issued from platforms that a Norton of the Labour movement was able to work with an Everett of the Labour movement. It is in these circumstances that we again ask that our people will realise that we have to bring back, by work and by sacrifice, into our Irish life, particularly into our political life, that spirit of unity and that spirit of dignity that characterises our people in their homes and in their general work—that spirit of dignity and of high purpose that is reflected in our general national aims and general national character. The circumstances of the world to-day are too complex; the gifts that our people have and the power of our people to manifest these gifts in activities and in production of various kinds are too great to have our spiritual resources and our material resources scattered and dissipated by the setting of Party against Party, the keeping of men divided and women divided in their political work—because there flows from that the same spirit of division and the same loss of effort and loss of enterprise in every aspect of our people's life.

The very circumstances in which the recent general election took place emphasise the necessity for close cooperation, close understanding, close working together, and close looking at the facts of our Irish life, if we are to make a success of our people's work here and if an Irish Parliament is to be faced with gathering and keeping the spirit of harmony and unity that will help to protect and build up our people. It is, therefore, on his merits, the merits that were such that he was able to be asked by these various Parties to make the sacrifice that he did make in February, 1948, the merits he has shown in his work for the last three years and the hope that he has inspired and continues to inspire in the people by his leadership of the various Parties that sat under him, and for the purpose of rooting firmly in our political, social and economic life that strength and that harmony and that dignity that we were able to maintain when we were struggling for our liberties, that I ask the Dáil to elect Deputy John A. Costello as Taoiseach.

Mr. Norton

I beg to second the motion that Deputy Costello be elected as Taoiseach. I do so in the full knowledge, a knowledge which is available to the country as a whole, that during the past three years he has filled that extremely responsible and difficult position with credit to himself and credit to the nation and that he has shed lustre on the various groups which comprise the inter-Party Government.

During the three years which have passed, the Government under Deputy Costello has had a creditable record of achievement of which it is quite entitled to feel proud. If one searches the pages of history for the past 100 years, one will find no three years more fruitful in achievement than the three years during which Deputy Costello has been in charge of the nation's affairs. He and the Government under him have given the nation a peace, a prosperity and a stability that it has never known before.

In the recent election, the main issue—in fact, the only issue—was whether there should be one-Party Government or inter-Party Government. That was the one issue in this election. And while I concede to Fianna Fáil that they campaigned in favour of one-Party Government, it is they and they only who got whatever mandate there may be limited though it is, for one-Party Government. No other Deputy in this House got a mandate for one-Party Government. The clear and unambiguous view of the electorate, as expressed through the ballot box, was in favour of inter-Party Government and no Deputy here to-day can ride away from his responsibilities in that respect.

Mr. Keane

All except one.

Mr. Norton

As the ballot boxes showed, there was a substantial majority in favour of inter-Party Government and it is the function of this House, the members of which are servants of the people, to respect the wishes of the electorate as expressed at the recent election. These wishes, in my view, can best be respected by nominating and electing Deputy Costello as Taoiseach, and because his return as Taoiseach will ensure a continuance of the peace, stability and prosperity of the past three years I commend his nomination to this House.

Mr. Lemass

I move:—

That Deputy Éamon de Valera be nominated as Taoiseach.

In the case of a man who has been for a long time an outstanding figure in Irish political life and who has held office as Head of the Irish Government during two separate and historically important periods, there is not much that can be said that would add anything to the public knowledge of him. The whole story of Deputy de Valera's life—as battalion commandant in the Irish Volunteers before and during 1916, as the man elected President of the Republic in 1919 and national leader in the eventful years that followed, as Head of the Government here during the enactment of the Constitution and during the very difficult years of the second world war—proclaims that, whatever other qualifications he may possess, he has the personal capacity, the integrity and the experience to carry the responsibilities which will again be his if this motion which I am proposing is accepted by the House.

If personal qualities and not Party strengths or loyalties were the sole consideration that would decide this issue, I would leave the record to speak for itself and be confident of the outcome. In the circumstances of this Dáil, however, other arguments must be advanced. Deputy de Valera, whom I am proposing should be nominated as Taoiseach, is the Leader of the largest Party in the House. Whatever views we may hold as to the interpretation of the results of the election as a reflection of the public will, and I do not think it can be said that the results were decisive, the appointment of the Leader of the largest Party, the Party which secured the election of representatives to a number exceeding by five that of all the other Parties combined, would appear to be the outcome in closest accord with the public will.

Apart from interpreting the public will as reflected in the voting in the election, we here, as the elected Deputies of the people, have to decide what arrangement we can make is likely to be most conducive to the public interest in the circumstances that may exist in the future. A Government supported by the largest Party, a homogeneous Party of 69 members in a House where 74 is a majority, has clearly a better chance, to put it no stronger than that, of realising that stability of internal political conditions which is a prerequiste to the preparation and fulfilment of a comprehensive programme of national development, and such a Party is more likely to obtain that public co-operation which will be necessary if the problems which are likely to arise for us from the world situation are to be resolved.

The case for the election of Deputy Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach rests primarily upon his personal qualifications for the office and his position as Leader of the largest Party in the House, but there are other matters to which I think I should refer, two matters upon which it may be necessary to make some definite statement.

We are not asking for an unlimited mandate. We are not asking for an unknown mandate. We do not think it is reasonable in the circumstances of this House that the name of a Deputy should be put forward for the position of Taoiseach without an indication of the programme which the Government nominated by him will endeavour to fulfil. We have published, prior to the meeting of the Dáil and in sufficient detail, I think, to make our intentions clear, the outline of the main aims towards which there will be directed the energies of whatever Government Deputy de Valera may nominate if he is chosen. It is upon the basis of that programme, published in advance of the meeting of the House, that we are asking for this motion the support of Deputies who are not of our Party. For those who may be interested, I wish to give a specific assurance that it is to implement that programme, and for no other purpose, that we are seeking to form a Government.

It has been suggested in a section of the Press that if Deputy de Valera is nominated as Taoiseach he will take an early opportunity of dissolving the Dáil and precipitating another election, although those who make that suggestion do not follow it to the point of conceding that another election would add to Fianna Fáil's representation in the House. We do not think that another election is in the national interest. We believe that, despite the rather acrimonious note struck by the Minister for Education, if Party differences and personal commitments could be left aside, the programme we have outlined, the programme for the fulfilment of which we have pledged ourselves to work if the opportunity is ours, has the support of Deputies, perhaps the majority of Deputies, on both sides of the House. It certainly will be our ambition to prove that that belief is well-founded by keeping the Dáil working on it—for the full length of its constitutional term, if possible.

I am moving this motion in the sincere conviction that its approval by the House will contribute to the national welfare and that it will be the result of to-day's deliberations which the majority of our people will regard as the most satisfactory outcome of the present political situation here.

Mr. Moylan

I desire, Sir, to second the proposal to nominate Deputy Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach.

Minister for External Affairs (Mr. MacBride)

It is obviously our function here to-day to do two things: first of all, to seek to implement as far as we can the will of the people who have sent us here; and, secondly, to provide that Government which we think is the most suitable and the one most likely to lead our country in the period ahead of us.

We have not had normal political development in our history. It can be readily conceded by all Parties in the House that, in the course of the last 30 years, we have not had any normal political thinking or political development. Most of our political thinking, most of our political development has been based on events that occurred 20 or 30 years ago. Much of it, unfortunately, has been based on rival personalities. I had hoped that in this situation, 30 years after the civil war, it would have been possible for all the Parties in this House to get together in an effort to provide the one type of Government that the vast majority of our people want, a Government representative of the main national Parties, pledged, first of all, to the achievement of our national territorial unity and pledged, secondly, to the economic development of this nation. I believe that it would be possible to provide such a Government. I think that if it were possible that such a Government would be provided, it should be provided for a fixed and limited period of time, such as two years. It could be elected on that understanding.

I have urged this view on a number of occasions: I urged it immediately after the election and I would like to urge it again here on this occasion. I would like to appeal here to the Leader of the present Opposition to indicate whether he is prepared in these circumstances and for those objectives to join in the formation of a national Government proportionately representative of the four main Parties in this House.

I think that we should be able to cast aside prejudice or pride in providing for the nation the type of Government which I know the vast majority of the people want. We are able to do it; we are able to cast aside these personal differences, these barren disputes about the past in ordinary social contacts; we are all able to cast them aside even in the field of sport. Why then is it not possible for the members of this House to cast them aside when it comes to providing a Government for the people?

Before passing on I think I should mention that the Taoiseach, Deputy Costello, did indicate, in a letter which he sent to another Deputy of this House, Deputy Cogan, his attitude. He indicated that if this proposal were to be profitably pursued it would be necessary that the Leader of the Opposition should indicate his intention of altering the decision which he already announced earlier, namely, that he should indicate his willingness to participate in such a national Government. I mention this letter because I saw a statement in some of this morning's papers that the letter sent by Deputy Cogan had never been replied to by the Taoiseach.

If it is not possible to form a nationally representative Government, then in present circumstances I must support the most representative type of Government possible. I do this for a number of reasons. In the first place, the people, however indecisively, have indicated by a very clear-cut majority that their desire, that their will, is for an inter-Party Government and that they are opposed to a one-Party Government. If I am right in saying that the first function of this House is to seek to interpret the will of the people, then obviously the result of the recent elections must coerce this House into supporting an inter-Party or representative type of Government. Secondly, I think that better results are likely to be achieved by a Government representative of different interests. In a country such as ours it is essential, I think, that the Labour Party, the representatives of the organised workers in the country, should form part of the Government. That is essential for the stability of the Government and for the welfare of the workers who constitute the vast majority of our people.

It has been my privilege in the course of the last three years to work under the leadership of Deputy John A. Costello. I had the privilege of knowing him before and I was one of those who recommended him to this House as Taoiseach. My experience in the course of the last three years has confirmed the very high opinion in which I held him then. Deputy Costello in my view has rendered a signal public service to this nation by accepting grave personal loss and inconvenience when he accepted the responsibility of Taoiseach. He has proved in the course of the last three years his ability and his integrity. He has proved, too—and I hope that this will be remembered by members on both sides of this House and by our people— that he was prepared to put the national interest before every other consideration.

Mr. Cogan

Over a long period I have consistently advocated and suggested that a national Government, proportionately representative of all Parties in this House, was desirable. I have based my arguments in support of that contention on the fact that we elect the Dáil by proportional representation and it seems reasonable that we should follow that system to its logical conclusion and elect the executive council of the Dáil by the same process. In the recent election I advocated that policy and I make no apology for so doing. During the course of events since the election my constituency executive in Wicklow have advised me to seek to secure that objective if possible and, if it were not possible, to act as my conscience might direct in the selection of the Head of the Government for the next five years. I approached the Leaders of both sides. I have been informed by the Leader of the Government in the usual legal language that the matter would receive consideration if some indication were given by the Leader of the Opposition. I have received from the Leader of the Opposition a very clear-cut statement that he sought a mandate for a Government of the Fianna Fáil Party——

Minister for Agriculture (Mr. Dillon)

And did not get it.

Mr. Cogan

——and having sought that mandate from the people and secured the largest representation in the House, he was not prepared to go back on the mandate which he sought. I am not one of those who hold that any political Party should repudiate a mandate which they have sought from the people. If a programme is put before the people by a political Party at an election— whether that programme be for the preservation of the link with the British Government or for the severance of that link, or for anything else—the programme should be adhered to. The people of this country are the masters on the day of the election and they expect the people whom they elect to keep faith with them and to honour the promises which they have made. Therefore, I accept the explanation of the Leader of the Opposition and I accept the fact that the formation of a national Government, composed of all Parties in this House, is not possible. In the instructions which were given to me by my constituency executive, it was clearly set out that a national Government should be a Government with the Leader of the largest Party at its head and that all Parties should be represented proportionately. I consider that that is a sound and reasonable proposition. It is possible that such a system is not workable under our present Constitution. It is possible that amendments to the Constitution would be required in order to enable that position to be brought about.

There are two alternatives before the country—either to carry the proportional representation system to its logical conclusion and have all Parties represented in the Government or to adopt the same system as that which is adopted in other countries and which provides for the establishment of what is known in those other democratic countries as the "two-Party system". It has been clearly indicated that a national Government on the lines which I have advocated, and which my constituency executive directed me to propose, is not possible. I am, therefore, faced with the position that I must decide which of the two Governments suggested by the nominators here to-day offers the best prospect for the welfare of the country. On this question I cannot be guided by Party prejudice, by class prejudice or by personal prejudice. On this question I must be influenced by what I consider to be the best Government for this country. There is no yardstick which I can apply to this matter except the consideration of which of the persons nominated for the position of Taoiseach would, in the present circumstances, provide us with the best Government over the next five years. On considering this matter from every angle, I am satisfied—satisfied beyond all possible shadow of doubt—that Deputy Éamon de Valera is in a position to provide the better Government for this country. Therefore, I have decided that his nomination shall have my support in this House.

I consider that the proposal to elect Deputy de Valera as Head of this Government is necessary and desirable. In the first place, he has behind him a large Party—almost 50 per cent. of the membership of this House. He is, therefore, in a position to carry out a programme of construction and development without being subjected to the pressure of various organised sections who will seek, perhaps, to obstruct him in carrying out that programme—as happened in the last Government. I am satisfied that the programme which has been submitted to this House by the Leader of the Fianna Fáil Party is fundamentally sound and constructive. That programme is available to even the most illiterate of Deputies and can be studied by them. It is on the basis of our future welfare as a nation that we have got to deal to-day and not on the basis of past differences or past disputes. I hope we have left that past behind us. I hope that, in the next five years, whoever is elected to the position of Taoiseach will concentrate on the present and the future and will avoid going back into the past and arousing bitter old memories of the past. There is constructive work to be done—constructive work for agriculture and constructive work for industry. There is work of national importance to be done in strengthening our economic position so that whatever the future may hold, whatever the world situation may hold for us, we shall at least be in a position of comparative self-reliance and independence. It is also essential that in the present situation the man elected to the office of Taoiseach must be in a position to strengthen the defences of this country. He must not be hampered by any group who may have affiliations with those who seek to weaken the defences of this nation. The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs on a number of occasions in my constituency proved beyond all shadow of a doubt that the Labour Party is closely associated with international Communism.

Deputies

Boo!

Mr. Cogan

If that is his explanation for the failure to strengthen the defences of this country, it does seem to be a reasonable one.

Mr. Keane

That is wrong.

An Ceann Comhairle

Order.

Mr. Davin

Look to the future.

Mr. Cogan

I think that the present is what we are immediately concerned with. In a short time we will be called upon to vote for the election of the Head of the new Government. I have expressed the view that, in my opinion, the Leader of the present Opposition Party is in a position to offer a better prospect of economic and social development, of a strengthening of our national position throughout the world and of a strengthening of our agricultural position, than the Head of the outgoing Government. I am satisfied that the Head of the outgoing Government is not in a position to make such an offer. From my experience over the past three years I am satisfied that the then Taoiseach, Deputy Costello, was not in a position to make a constructive contribution to the advancement of this nation. He was hampered and hamstrung. We know he was obstructed by Ministers who sought to advance their own personal ambitions or the ambitions of their immediate friends rather than to advance the interests of the nation. We had a shocking exhibition of political jobbery at Baltinglass.

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (Mr. Everett)

What about Carndonagh? They shoved one of them into a job. I have all the particulars here.

Mr. Cogan

The Taoiseach was not strong enough or resolute enough to uphold right against wrong. The people, however, showed that they were strong enough and resolute enough——

Mr. Everett

They gave you your answer. The Broy Harriers.

Mr. Keane

On a point of order——

Mr. Everett

Send down another Broy Harrier.

An Ceann Comhairle

What is the point of order?

Mr. Keane

On a point of order. Would Deputy Cogan relate the circumstances that existed in Watergrasshill, County Cork?

An Ceann Comhairle

That is not a point of order.

Mr. Everett

What about the daughter of one of the Deputies opposite getting a job? What about Mr. Lemass's brother—£3,000 a year?

Mr. Keane

And Deputy Moylan's sister-in-law.

Mr. Cogan

If the Taoiseach had shown himself strong enough to stand up to Deputy Everett and to the injustice of his system, the country would be facing a different future to-day. It was within the power of the Fine Gael Party to have saved its soul by standing for what was right and just on that occasion. It was within the power of the Clann na Poblachta Party to have saved not only its soul but a substantial part of its body by standing for clean government on that occasion.

Mr. Davin

On a point of order, does the Deputy realise that he is now going back into the past and not dealing with either the present or the future? Does he intend to do that?

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Cogan should apply himself to the motion, and not to the past.

Mr. Cogan

I will relate this matter to the fact that, in the suggested team which the proposed Taoiseach, Deputy Costello, proposes to secure the election of, there are Ministers——

An Ceann Comhairle

The motion is for the election of a Taoiseach. There has been no Cabinet nominated.

Mr. Davin

Major-General Dennis has not been nominated.

Mr. Everett

Or the Broy Harriers.

Mr. Cogan

May I ask if the reference to Major-General Dennis is in order?

An Ceann Comhairle

No, it is not.

Mr. Cogan

The people of Baltinglass and the people of Ireland showed by their stand that they stood for justice and fair play. I want to say now that, in electing a Government for this country, we will elect a Government which will stand for decency, for clean government and for the elimination of jobbery and corruption. I want to emphasise now, in the strongest possible way, that these are the ideals for which I stand: ideals of justice, ideals of honest and clean Government, fair play for every citizen no matter whether he be born in a castle or in a cabin, and no matter whether he be a private in the National Army or an officer of some other army. Each citizen is entitled to right and justice, and I am satisfied that, in electing Deputy Éamon de Valera to the position of Head of the Government, we will be electing a person who will stand for those rights fearlessly, honourably and honestly, no matter what pressure may be placed upon him.

I have said, and I think it is right that it should be said, that the outgoing Taoiseach was a man of great charm and courtesy, but charm and courtesy are no substitutes for moral courage. I think that the lack of moral courage shown by the Taoiseach in regard to the great crime that was committed in Baltinglass and in regard to the mother and child scheme put forward by Deputy Dr. Browne—the lack of moral courage which led to the muddling in that latter case—is a thing which we ought not to stand for. I think there is grave danger in electing a weak and incompetent system of Government such as we have had over the last three years. We have seen the attempts that were made to foist upon this country an objectionable and unjust social welfare scheme.

Interruptions.

Mr. Keane

Now we have it.

Mr. Cogan

We have seen the attempts that were made under that scheme to impose severe levies upon the ordinary worker and on the enterprising employer who was striving to develop industry and agriculture in this country. We have seen, over the past three years, the manner in which many branches of our agricultural industry have been sabotaged by the Minister for Agriculture. We have seen the attempts which he made, and successfully made, to eliminate from this House, as far as one of them was concerned, independent representation for agriculture. He went out with all the force at his command to get Deputy O'Reilly and myself out of this House. He succeeded in getting Deputy O'Reilly out of the House, but he has not succeeded in getting me out yet.

Mr. Keane

He got you in.

Mr. Cogan

I sincerely hope that he will never get the same chance again.

An Ceann Comhairle

The House is not discussing the Minister for Agriculture.

Mr. Cogan

I mention these matters very briefly to indicate that the outgoing Government have shown themselves, through the activities of the Taoiseach and through some of the Ministers, to be irresponsible, incompetent and lacking in the ordinary qualities which any nation would expect from a Government charged with the task of administering the affairs of the country. I am satisfied that if the Leader of the Opposition is entrusted with the formation of a new Government he will be mindful of the main problems which face this country.

Mr. Davin

A social welfare scheme?

Mr. Cogan

I am wholeheartedly in support of a scheme of social welfare, and I sincerely hope that the new Taoiseach will right the wrong that was done to the aged and the sightless when a vague promise was made to them by the outgoing Government which they had no intention of carrying out.

Mr. Everett

You voted against it.

Mr. Cogan

I sincerely hope, too, that the interests of the farming community and of the agricultural industry will be adequately safeguarded and that we will not have a Minister for Agriculture who will tell the farmers that he will not meet their organisation— that their organisation is a political ramp. I think that we ought to have Ministers in this country who will meet the representatives of the various important vocational sections of the community and who will consult with them in regard to their special problems.

Mr. Rooney

And will meet the Wicklow farmers?

Mr. Cogan

On the proposal that Deputy Éamon de Valera be elected Taoiseach, I should like to reply to an unjust interruption that was made by one member of the House in which he suggested that I had voted against the proposed increase of 2/6 to old age pensioners. As he preached that foul lie throughout the length and breadth of my constituency, I want to say that I contradicted it from every platform where that assertion was made. I want again to repudiate it. I never voted against any increase to the pensioners or for the aged or the sightless; but there was a foul propaganda of falsehood and misrepresentation carried out against me. I repudiate that propaganda.

Mr. MacBride

Might I, through you, a Chinn Chomhairle, ask would Deputy Cogan make available to the House the text of the written replies which were received from the Taoiseach and Deputy Éamon de Valera in relation to the formation of an inter-Party Government?

Mr. Keane

Deputy Cogan mentioned in his tirades certain things that I must try to contradict. He mentioned with regard to the Irish Labour Party that they were Communists. As one of the rookies of the Irish Labour Party, on the 6th or 7th January, 1937, I was in charge of 250 men to go out to fight with General Franco in Spain——

An Ceann Comhairle

We cannot go back upon history of that kind. Deputy Keane will see that obviously the philosophy any particular Party accepts does not arise on this. The motion before the House is to elect a Taoiseach.

Mr. Davin

For the future.

An Ceann Comhairle

And Deputy Keane should confine himself to that.

Mr. Keane

Will we be allowed to reply to allegations from a gentleman who has no integrity, a gentleman who has traded his wares and who is probably better off to-day than ever he was?

An Ceann Comhairle

I have allowed the Deputy to repudiate that, but I do not want to go back on the history of the Spanish War.

Mr. Lehane

On a point of order, Deputy Keane has made an allegation against Deputy Cogan that he has traded his wares and that he is better off than he ever was before.

An Ceann Comhairle

I did not hear the point made by Deputy Lehane.

Mr. Lehane

Deputy Keane has stated that Deputy Cogan traded his wares and that he is better off to-day than he ever was before. Is that statement in order?

Mr. Flanagan

That is as a result of the three years of the inter-Party Government.

Mr. Keane

I do not want a misinterpretation of my statement. If Deputy Lehane requires an interpretation I will give it.

An Ceann Comhairle

Will Deputy Keane confine himself to the motion before the House?

Mr. Keane

I am trying to do it, Sir. If I had any influence on this side of the House, I would probably propose Deputy Lemass as Leader of the Government or of the proposed Government, because I firmly believe that Deputy Lemass is one of the most constructive members who sits on the opposite side of the House.

An Ceann Comhairle

Can you not nominate him for the position?

Mr. Keane

Deputy de Valera was spoken about this evening as being the one man who pulled this country out of every difficulty. I can remember conditions into which Deputy de Valera put this country. Deputy MacBride spoke this evening. Deputy MacBride and I were diametrically opposed in the civil war and it was a certain development in 1947 and 1948 that brought us together.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy is too strong on history.

Mr. Keane

Deputy Killilea shot the toes out of himself one time. We came together to try and improve the position in this country. While looking across the House a while ago I saw Dr. Noel Browne. Dr. Noel Browne carried on under most trying conditions from the people opposite. He carried on with the help of some of us and brought to fruition schemes that were never expected by the people opposite and which they would never allow him to carry out. The people opposite maligned him, pilloried him and put him in a difficult position.

An Ceann Comhairle

Will the Deputy keep to the motion, that Deputy J.A. Costello be nominated as Taoiseach?

Mr. Keane

Am I or am I not entitled to speak to the motion?

An Ceann Comhairle

Will the Deputy please resume his seat? The Deputy is discussing the Spanish Civil War and the Irish Civil War but I want him to discuss the motion before the House.

Mr. Keane

But, a Chinn Chomhairle, the previous speaker went back very far and spoke about Communism. I laugh when I hear Communism spoken about.

Mr. Davin

He spoke about Coganism.

Mr. Keane

I am speaking as a man who supported Dr. Browne. As chairman of the committee in Cork, I gave Dr. Browne every material assistance. Dr. Browne, who is here himself, will bear me out on that. There are a lot of people solicitous with regard to Dr. Browne and if they had their way this time three years ago they would have put him in Glasnevin. On the other side of the House there is one man in particular, Deputy Seán MacEntee——

An Ceann Comhairle

Will the Deputy relate this to the motion before the House? There is no relevancy whatever.

Mr. Keane

I am very sorry, but when one has to listen to a certain amount of propaganda used by gentlemen who believe that they are the only people in this country to provide freedom it is very hard to put up with it.

Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll

When I stood as an Independent Deputy in the recent General Election, it was my intention, if returned to this House, to pursue that Independent status as rigidly as possible. In trying to visualise to-day's election of Taoiseach, I felt that I would be in a position to abstain from voting, but in view of the inconclusive result of the election and the closeness of to-day's vote, I feel that it would now be an evasion of my public duty if I were to do so.

In the issues which I have put before the Dublin South-West electorate, I have clearly indicated my reasons for my resignation from one of the Parties which is supporting the inter-Party group, and I have indicated, equally clearly, my lack of confidence in the inter-Party Government, principally because of their vacillating policy. I believe that in the present political stalemate, where any elected Government can only enjoy a small majority, it is vital that there should be leadership by someone who can command respect and trust both within and without our shores. Therefore, in to-day's issue, I cast, without hesitation, my vote in favour of Deputy Éamon de Valera. By supporting the Fianna Fáil Party as an Independent Deputy I am not committed to them by any Party or inter-Party affiliations. I have made the reason for casting my vote in favour of Deputy Éamon de Valera quite clear. The extent and duration of my support for the Fianna Fáil Party, if they are to-day elected to Government, will depend purely upon the manner in which they deal with the practical issues with which the Irish people in the recent general election have so clearly indicated that they are most concerned.

Mr. Lehane

It is the wish of my constituents that I should to-day advocate the formation of a national Government. From what I have heard, however, there seems to be very little likelihood of such a Government being formed. I would like to hear from the Taoiseach—and his reply will influence me to some extent in the way in which I shall vote in this division—if he has accepted the demands made at the Labour Party meeting held last Thursday. If he has accepted these demands, will he indicate now to the House what the demands are? His reply will influence my decision in the division taken on this issue.

Dr. Browne

Very briefly, I would like to give my reasons for casting my vote on the election of the Taoiseach in favour of Deputy Éamon de Valera. I would like to make it clear, too, that on all occasions I have stated that I am not completely opposed to a conception of inter-Party Government. I believe there are times when the formation of an inter-Party Government is a desirable development and can play an effective part in the control of the destinies of the country. I believe that such an occasion arose in 1948. I believe that the record of the inter-Party Government has been a sound one as far as it went. For that I think the Taoiseach deserves a certain meed of praise.

I have also stated, however, that in my view the inter-Party conception of Government, where there are included in that Government certain groups, politicians and political Parties, large and small, holding divergent, contrary and sometimes diametrically opposite views on the method by which the social betterment and happiness of our people can best be achieved, can work satisfactorily for a time. When such groups come together it is possible for a period of time for those groups to find common ground. Fortunately, that common ground is found mainly on matters which are not of vital importance to the community and upon which there is no really fundamental difference between the political Parties. I think that is the reason why it was possible for the inter-Party Government to make progress until such time as it became quite obvious that the ideological differences which must exist between Parties professing different social philosophies must clash. When that clash came it then became necessary for one or other Party to compromise on its principles. I believe that is an inevitable sequel to the inter-Party conception of Government.

I believe that recent events were a perfectly logical conclusion to that particular form of Government. It is obvious that in a Government such as that the larger and more powerful group must exercise the greatest influence on policy. In the inter-Party Government that group happened to be the Fine Gael Party. Quite obviously that Party allowed their political associations and their political supporters to influence the decisions of Dáil Éireann contrary to the best interests of the community as a whole. It then became necessary for the smaller Parties to accept that dicta or take the only step which remained open to them by refusing to compromise.

I am not now concerned with the incident that has passed. It is over as far as I am concerned. It is now immaterial. I think, however, that it is an important pointer to those who wish to support the inter-Party conception of Government in the future. I have studied the 17 points put forward by the Fianna Fáil Party in recent weeks. They are points on which, as Deputy Lemass has said, the majority of us on both sides would agree as being the most desirable and the most likely to bring a reasonable degree of prosperity and happiness to our people.

As an Independent, I propose to offer my support to Éamon de Valera and the Fianna Fáil Party so long as they continue conscientiously and sincerely to pursue those ideas and ideals for the betterment of our people and our country. I keep to myself the right as an Independent to use my discretion upon any occasion on which the need arises to vote as I think fit in the best interests of the country.

In conclusion, I would like to make it quite clear that as an Independent I have asked for no understanding nor have I received any guarantee from the Fianna Fáil Party. I will vote for the election of Deputy Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach and I shall continue to vote for the Fianna Fáil Party so long as that Party conscientiously pursues the objectives laid down in their 17-point programme.

Minister for Agriculture (Mr. Dillon)

I propose to maintain my support of the principle of inter-Party government. My mind to-day goes back to the opening of the recent campaign which was signalled by the Fianna Fáil newspaper with the headline: "Fianna Fáil against the Rest." That theme was taken up by the Leader of the Fianna Fáil Party, who said in every county in Ireland:—

"I am asking for a clear majority.

I will form no Government except on the votes of my own supporters."

That theme and the theme of Deputy Lemass that Fianna Fáil were fighting the election on the 1948 programme dominated the campaign. But long before the campaign was over Fianna Fáil had jettisoned lump by lump its 1948 programme.

The whole country was littered with lumps of that programme which they jettisoned as they went along and no issue was left but the one issue, clearly stated: "Trust Dev." The gates of every cemetery in Ireland were adorned with placards: "Put him in." If the Irish people did one thing in the last election, it was to declare resolutely that they had no intention of putting Dev. in the graveyard or anywhere else. The only thing that Fianna Fáil left in issue was: "Did the Irish people want a Government formed by Deputy de Valera leading a majority of Dáil Éireann?" If they did not want that, they could not get a Dev. Government at all. The Irish people said most categorically: "We do not." Now Deputy Lemass, with that superb and brazen aplomb with which I am only too familiar and which I have long admired as leaving Burmese brass in the shade, boasts of the fact that, like the Duke of Plaza Toro, he led his forces from behind. Deputy de Valera fights a general election and when he has been defeated produces his programme! Certain it is that the 1948 election programme with which he embarked on this election was jettisoned. Compulsory tillage went the first week. The wages freeze went the second week. The price freeze went the third week.

A Deputy

And the old age pensions came along.

Mr. Dillon

That is the Annie Oakley piece. We are coming to that. I am describing the strip tease politics as they divested themselves of every rag of decency when they embarked on their campaign. Their raiment was old-fashioned. It was a bit shabby. It was the 1948 design, but at least it covered their nakedness. They passed the post limping and naked and then came the bargain sale. To-day Deputy de Valera is the Annie Oakley of Irish politics: "Anything you can do I can do better." Is there any one single feature of the Plaza Toro programme, produced not on the eve of the general election but on its morrow, is there a single item of that programme that does not represent a synthesis of the speeches made by members of the inter-Party Government during the campaign? Is there a social security scheme? Are there increased old age pensions? Is there a land rehabilitation programme? Is there even my modest proposal for Connemara? It was no great thing, a very poor thing, but mine own. It now appears as the plume in the bargain hat of the Annie Oakley of Irish politics, but though it be a poor thing, little to boast of, nothing for which any rational man claims gratitude who professes to be conscious of the obligations and the duties of the office which I had the honour to hold, it was precious to me and I do not like to see it as an adornment of any Annie Oakley's bargain hat without acknowledgment.

It degrades Irish politics; it degrades us all, that a Party can come into this House boasting of the fact that it claims the suffrages of the Deputies of this House on a programme, not a programme that it did not dare to produce, but a programme that it was not fit to produce before the campaign began, because to every single particular of that programme it was converted by the members of the inter-Party Government in the course of the campaign. I know that because I personally kicked them off compulsory tillage. My colleague the Tánaiste kicked them off the wage freeze. My colleague the Minister for Finance exposed them with the documents that Deputy Lemass had inadvertently left in the waste paper basket. Have they no shame or are there no depths of servile degradation to which members of the Fianna Fáil Party are not prepared to sink? I would not care if it simply meant the degradation of a political Party, but they do represent a large minority of our people—no one can deny that. And their conduct, their demeanour, their standards are seen in the world as the standards of our people. They are shameful standards, they are contemptible standards, and it is a grievous thing that a large Party, a great Party—any Party which returns 69 Deputies to Dáil Éireann is a great Party in my estimation—should stoop to clamber into office over the prostrate bodies of men whom they derided, misrepresented, insulted and outraged for three years until such time as they saw an opportunity to use their folly to serve their ignoble ends.

I do not deny that I hate the doings of this day when I think of the impending ruin of so much work in which I was proud to have a share. I was proud to find myself a colleague of William Norton. I was no stranger to the Taoiseach; we had been colleagues before. I was proud to find myself a colleague of Seán MacBride's. Three better colleagues no man ever worked with, and I am not unconscious of the fact that I am not the easiest colleague in the world to work with. That is, perhaps, one proposition that is unanimously accepted in this House. If it is, is there not something dear, is there not something admirable, is there not something precious in the inter-Party Government that got so much done and that found in its doing that to talk of ideological differences within our own tribunal is to label the man who speaks of them as mentally remote from 99.9 of our people? What ideological differences, if words retain their meaning, divide any two Deputies on any side of this House? I think of ideologies as representing democracy, dictatorship, Fascism, Nazism, Marxism. Who says that there are differences of that character between any two men in the public life of Ireland? I am a politician and I despise the sneering tone of the neo-politician who speaks contemptuously of politicians. I am a politician and proud to be a politician. My father was a politician and my grandfather was a politician and, if every Deputy in this House has as good reason to be proud of his forebears as I have of mine, I congratulate him. I am proud of them because they were politicians and I am proud to be a politician in the public life of Ireland.

I vacillate between sympathy for folly and something closely approximating to hatred of evil when I hear Deputy Dr. Browne saying: "The past is past. The incident associated with my departure from the Government is all over so far as I am concerned." I give him the charity of thinking that that is the folly of childish inexperience and lack of capacity to appreciate the nature of his acts. But people on all sides of this House who know the devastating reverberation of the tale he purported to tell all over the world wherever there are enemies of Ireland or wherever there are enemies of the Catholic Church cannot say grandiloquently: "It is all over as far as we are concerned"? The echoes have only begun to roll and not all the eloquence of every Deputy can catch up with the mighty army of lies which is marching behind that standard at this moment all over the world to prove that in Ireland it was true what Salisbury, what Balfour, what Carson said—that Home Rule was Rome Rule. That is the brief for every slanderer, for every libel merchant of this country all over the world and, what is worse, for those who do differ from us most fundamentally in the ideological sphere that is their brief to prove that to be free men you must destroy the Church. I know he never meant that. I know that ideologically he and I think the same. I know that if my Catholicism were compared to his, the comparison would, in all probability, be to my disadvantage, but he must forgive me if it makes me sick with horror that his inexperience, his lack of wisdom, his incapacity to understand the consequences of the things he said and did, should bring upon us the irremediable disaster of his published allegations. I am aghast that in the presence of that situation I should hear him say: "It is all over so far as I am concerned." It will not be all over in the lifetime of the youngest man in this Dáil. If it was folly, God forgive him for his folly. All I can say is that it would be hard to believe, in the atmosphere in which I worked beside him, that it would be hard for any man who wanted to succour the poor and protect the afflicted from the consequences of poverty and the knowledge of want not to find a way and a dozen willing hands to help him inside and outside the Government to which he belonged.

I do not want to say all the cross things which Deputy Cogan seems to live in dread of my saying about him. But, as he was repudiating his colleagues, as he was declaring his great conversion, as he was binding himself to the chariot with a silken cord, to which he may shortly discover hemp will be added when the Fuehrer is installed, I noticed a benign smile spread across the face of Deputy MacEntee and his head seemed to nod like the wise old mandarin, rejoicing on the lost groat being found, on the vagrant sheep returning. As I turned from that pleasing spectacle of avuncular solicitude, my eye lit upon the Official Report of Dáil Éireann, column 30, Volume 110. On this occasion, Deputy Cogan was also speaking, but I venture to say that on this occasion the oscillation of Deputy MacEntee's head was horizontal rather than vertical, because here is what Deputy Cogan was saying in those halcyon days, while he was still a carefree, vagrant sheep:—

"Just as King Herod sought to destroy an Infant rival, so Éamon de Valera sought to destroy a new Party in the field. He had failed to destroy that Party completely but he has succeeded in destroying his own. When I tried to instil into the mind of that senile delinquent, the Minister for Local Government, some sense of responsibility and when I reminded him of the danger of a midwinter election which would inflict a grave injustice on a large section of the rural population...."

I trust that Deputy Cowan and the senile delinquent and King Herod between them will be able to restore the circulation of Deputy Cogan's feet. Will he think me unkind if I say: Ave Salve atque vale? Travel softly lest those feet grow cold again. He is not the first simple, kindly creature who has walked into a parlour and found there nothing so exotic, nothing so arresting as King Herod, neither a Tetrarch nor a chief priest, nothing but a hairy spider. The Tetrarch and the chief priest at least went through the form of giving the victim a trial, but the fly that walks into a spider's parlour is like the young lady from Riga who went out for a ride on a tiger —I know the poem goes on that they both came back from the ride with the lady inside and a smile on the face of the tiger. Whether it be a tiger or a spider, Deputy Cogan will find the accommodating stomach of the spider or the tiger waiting to wrap him in a consoling animating warmth which will guarantee him against his senile and delinquent friend's anxiety lest his feet be unduly cold.

Surely these Deputies must be ashamed; surely these Deputies who gloried in their resolution to be all or nothing, surely those Deputies who, ten days ago, confidently prophesied that the inter-Party Government would acquire by purchase the votes wherewith to command a majority, will feel our people justified in saying to them: "It was you who spoke of these votes as being up for auction. In whose shop window are they now displayed?" We never bought them; we never said they were for purchase; we never indicated that a single one of them, no matter how strict his censure was upon us, was corrupt.

We are not ashamed and we make no apology to argue with, to reason with, to urge on any Deputy of Dáil Éireann to lend us a hand, but I challenge anyone in this House or outside it to maintain that, despite the ferocity and the bitter injustice of some of the criticisms levelled against us, it can ever be said by any of these men that we said they were for sale. It was Fianna Fáil who said that; it was Fianna Fáil who repeated it. Am I unjust if I say to Fianna Fáil now: "How come they in your shop window?" They are your only claim to form a Government in this country, and it was you who stigmatised them as the purchasable dross of Irish public life. How can men accept that stigma and serve those who put that stigma on them? Do they deny putting that stigma on them? Do they deny that day after day since the final count was published their newspaper had no comment to make upon it but that? There was bargaining; there was an open market. They are the people who now assert that the highest interest of the public life of Ireland is to be served by reneging all they put before the people when this campaign began by getting their title deeds from Deputies whom they thought it right to stigmatise as potential articles of commerce.

If I thought of any Deputy in this House as someone eligible for purchase I would cut off my hand before I would disgrace this country by constituting part of a Government returned to office by a man who would sell his trust for money. It is a dreadful thing to say of a Deputy chosen by our people. God knows we are not all angels, and we do not profess to be. God knows this Dáil is not a kindergarten, and thank God it is not. It is an arena of free men where hard blows are given and taken in the ordinary course of our public life. That is what it should be and it is as that that I am proud to belong to it. I am not suggesting that election by the Irish people is a certificate of angelic virtue for any man, but it is a certificate that he is a decent man or he would not be a representative of our people in our Parliament. It is Fianna Fáil who choose to withdraw that certificate of character, and, having withdrawn it, to lean on those they slandered to get power. Thank God, the inter-Party Government never had to do that; thank God, the inter-Party Government never proposed to do it; thank God, the inter-Party Government never had to seek, and no one would have dreamt it would accept the support or suffrage of a purchasable man.

I should like to go on with the work we are doing. It was hard work and it was work in which there was little monetary reward for those who undertook it, and God knows that that is true of our predecessors just as much as it is of us. Our predecessors who served as Ministers of this State were shamefully, meanly and contemptibly underpaid, and that should be redressed at an early date. I claim no credit—nobody dare do so, standing in front of men who served for 18 years as Ministers of this State —for forgoing the right to adequate monetary reward for serving as a Minister. Dozens of other men have forgone it in similar circumstances in this country and made no moan about it.

I do not deny for a moment that I gloried in being afforded the opportunity of doing something to complete the work on the land of this country that had been begun in a previous generation. I am not ashamed of the record of myself or of any of my colleagues. I think it is a record of which all of us have a right to be proud, and, if there is one I would mention who did as much as or more than any of us to give this country its rightful place in the world, to raise it in the estimation of every nation and to give those of us whose duty it was to go abroad in the name of Ireland pride in our office wherever we went, that man was Seán MacBride. He and I were for many a long day at diametrically opposite poles in the political life of this country. To-day, in regard to many matters relating to economics and possibly to politics, we might not see 100 per cent. eye to eye, but we found it possible to work together for common ends. It was an honour and a privilege to work with him and some day those who poured slander upon him, because it was safe to slander him for he had so many enemies who rejoiced to see him slandered, will regret much of what they said and will feel the bitter wound themselves of the man who throws a weapon unaware that the weapon he is using is a boomerang.

I value my repute in the public life of Ireland. I am proud to remember that a part of my public life was in the closest possible association with as distinguished a public servant as this country has ever had, Seán MacBride. I am proud to have served under as good a Taoiseach as this country ever has produced or ever can produce. I deal in no hyperbole. I do not describe him as the unprecedented God-sent leader of the Irish people. I describe him as as good a Taoiseach as this country ever had or ever can produce. There will be his match in every generation. Our people have not ceased to produce them and, with God's help, they never will. I envy anyone who comes after us who is privileged to have the very high honour of serving in an Irish Cabinet under so splendid a Prime Minister.

Perhaps it is too early to deliver a valedictory address. I have been 32 years on the roads of Irish politics and that pilgrimage leaves no space for wishful thinking. If the decision of this House requires us to leave down the work we are just beginning, so be it. That is the fortune of politics and only a fool engages in politics if he is not prepared to take the rough with the smooth. I lay it down, if I have to, with reluctance for I loved to serve. I only hope and pray that the work we have started, that we have only just started, will not be destroyed in malice or envy or spite. I heard so many of the Fianna Fáil Deputies jealous of our achievements denigrate the things we had done. I knew they were doing it because they were jealous. I implore them, if they do not consider it a sin against consistency to label the Deputies of this House as purchasable merchandise and glory in their right to form an Irish Government by their suffrage, so far to strain their consistency as to allow the plans they so much blew upon to carry on for the benefit of our people. If they are not able to build, let them not destroy; if they are not able to create, let them not sterilise; and if they are not able to treat the work of governing Ireland as a glorious adventure, in which it is a privilege to give all that one has, let them not turn it into a base, mercenary traffic of corruption and intimidation.

Captain Cowan

In case some of Deputy Dillon's speech might be misinterpreted, I think that if he were to have a discussion with three of his colleagues—the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Deputy Dr. O'Higgins—he would find how difficult they found it in the early hours of this morning to persuade a young Independent Deputy to act against his conscience and his convictions.

The Taoiseach

A Chinn Chomhairle, I wish here and now to repudiate the suggestion made by Deputy Cowan. There is no truth whatever in it.

Mr. Dillon

The Deputy knows that it is not true.

Captain Cowan

No interviews with an Independent Deputy this morning?

Mr. Dillon

Did I not say we interviewed you and everyone else, and were proud to do it, but scorned to say we would buy them?

Captain Cowan

No one is talking about buying, but to persuade a young Independent Deputy to act against his conscience.

Mr. Dillon

That is quite untrue.

Captain Cowan

In the situation that now exists, the responsibility of deciding big issues rests on a few individuals. Each of us carrying that responsibility must act in accordance with his conscience and do what he thinks is best in the national interest. If I interpret correctly the mind of the people, they want a period of stable Government. The country wants us to-day to elect a Government that will be able to remain in office for the full statutory term of five years. I had to ask myself—and I have to ask myself yet—in what way that stable Government can be found. Can a group of Parties, opposed by a solid bloc of 69 Deputies, assisted by some Independents, give us stable Government? Or can that bloc of 69, assisted by a number of Independents, give us stable Government? I think that the bloc of 69, generally supported by a number of Independents, will give us a stable Government; and in the peculiar circumstances in which this House finds itself, I think that the largest Party in the House, because of its voting strength in the country, has a duty to accept office and give, if it can, stable Government to the people. Whatever my own personal views in the past may have been, my duty as a Dáil Deputy is clear. I must vote for Deputy de Valera to ensure, so far as I can, stable Government for the country.

There are other reasons why I should vote for a new Taoiseach and a new Government. The dissolution of the last Dáil was brought about by the action of the inter-Party Government in throwing overboard, without the authority of this Dáil, the free-for-all mother and child scheme, and substituting for it a scheme with a means test; and also by the unconstitutional action of the Minister for External Affairs in bringing about the resignation of the Minister for Health, Dr. Browne, from the Government.

Mr. MacBride

On a point of order, a Chinn Chomhairle, I wish to submit that if a charge of unconstitutional action against a Minister is to be made, it should be made to the Committee of Procedure and Privileges and adjudicated upon by it; and that otherwise the Deputy is not in order in accusing a Minister appointed by this Dáil of unconstitutional action.

Captain Cowan

Deputy Dr. Browne himself, and those of us who supported him in this House and in the country, were vindicated by the electorate. Those who were foremost in the blood hunt against Dr. Browne were either defeated or humiliated by the electorate. The inter-Party Government, by insisting on a means test, were acting contrary to the spirit of the legislation passed by the Oireachtas.

We are all anxious to see an end to Partition. We all know that many of our fellow-countrymen in the Six Counties have a real fear that if they unite with us they will be ruled not by the lawful Government but by the Bishops. It has always been the endeavour of patriots to establish beyond doubt that there was no foundation for those fears. But the declarations and action of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for External Affairs and other Ministers in connection with the mother and child scheme, and the reckless nonsense spoken by the Attorney-General on occasions, have unfortunately accentuated the fears and postponed the peaceful ending of Partition. Grave national damage has been done and if the Taoiseach and his Minister were to be permitted to remain longer in office the prospects of a friendly settlement of the Partition question would be seriously jeopardised. The damage done must be repaired as quickly as possible, the fears of our Protestant fellow-countrymen must be allayed; and that can be done only by the election of a new Government, that will carry out its duties according to the laws and the Constitution, without fear, without favour and without religious discrimination.

The inter-Party Government approved of the action of the Minister for External Affairs in arrogating to himself the powers and responsibilities of the Taoiseach and for that action they must now be brought to account. I believe in the ideals of James Connolly. In his lifetime, James Connolly was condemned and vilified from the same sources as I am condemned and vilified from to-day.

Mr. MacBride

For goodness' sake, do not class yourself with James Connolly. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Captain Cowan

I am anxious that a strong Labour Party should be built, based on the teachings and actuated by the principles of Connolly. I have seen the Labour Party time after time weakened and defeated by its association with the forces of reaction.

Mr. Keane

What about the vanguard that Deputy MacEntee accused you of?

Captain Cowan

In the recent general election, in spite of unity in the Labour Party and in spite of undoubted good work done by the Tánaiste and Labour Ministers in the Government, the Labour Party lost four seats. If the Labour Party cannot learn the lesson of its failures, I, as a follower of James Connolly, must do my part to make them learn that lesson now.

Mr. Davin

You had a very narrow escape yourself, had you not?

Captain Cowan

I feel it a solemn duty, therefore, to do what I can to release the Labour Party from the tentacles of reaction and to give it a chance, under new and progressive leadership, to build itself up to the strength that will enable it to carry out its mission of creating a socialist Ireland.

Mr. Davin

They will come back again.

Captain Cowan

I can only do that by endeavouring to defeat the inter-Party Government, thereby releasing the Labour Party from the reactionary forces with which it finds itself in an unnatural alliance.

In the realm of External Affairs, the policy of putting this country up for sale to America has been pursued by the late Minister for External Affairs.

Mr. MacBride

That, of course, is untrue.

Captain Cowan

This country is opposed to international entanglements that may involve us in suicidal and destructive war. This nation is a small one but it has a divine mission to do its best to prevent the world involving itself in another war and to preach the gospel of peace to all mankind.

Mr. MacBride

That is why you are raising an army, I suppose?

Captain Cowan

We can carry out that mission by pursuing a policy of strict neutrality and by giving a lead to righteous men and women everywhere. There must, therefore, be a complete reversal of the external policy favoured by the inter-Party Government and that can only be done by a new Government.

Many of my friends are alarmed lest the Fianna Fáil Government should adopt a policy of dictatorship, a policy of destroying those who put them in power, a policy of repression——

Mr. Davin

Be charitable, will you?

Captain Cowan

——or a policy of disregard for the feelings and the wishes of the ordinary people. I trust that, if Dáil Éireann gives Fianna Fáil the power of Government, we shall never have to regret our action——

Mr. Dunne

You are very innocent.

Captain Cowan

——and that, learning from the lessons of the past three years, Fianna Fáil will administer the affairs of the nation with charity to all within the spirit of democracy. If they do that, they can be assured of sufficient support in this House to enable them to run the full course of five years.

I should like to join with other Deputies in paying a tribute to the late Taoiseach, John A. Costello.

Mr. Davin

"Late" Taoiseach?

Captain Cowan

Yes. We all know that Deputy Costello carried grave burdens and rendered sterling service during his three years of office as Taoiseach. Although I have to vote against his re-election and to criticise certain aspects of his administration, I feel that he deserves the sincere thanks of the nation for a difficult job of work well done.

Mr. McQuillan

I wish to give my reasons for the way in which I intend to vote in the election of Taoiseach in this new Dáil. I have not the power of oratory displayed by the Minister for Agriculture. I was glad I had not those powers of oratory when I listened to him speaking in this House in connection with a colleague of mine, Dr. Noel Browne. I am glad for the sake of the country that Deputy Dillon is an Independent, and as such is speaking only in an independent capacity.

I find myself in the position of one who is a real Independent in this House to-day. I have no thanks to offer to any political party for my return here as a Deputy. I can actually say that I received much more criticism and that I was slandered in a bigger way by members of the inter-Party group than by members of the present Opposition. But, when I decided the manner in which I would cast my vote, I had to leave out of my mind any trace of bitterness in connection with that campaign.

There are three things open to me: 1, I could vote for Deputy Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach; 2, I could vote for Deputy John A. Costello as Taoiseach; 3, I could abstain from voting. I cut out the third immediately because, no matter what my personal views are in connection with the people on either side of the House, I think I was elected here at least to cast a vote for one or the other. When I examined the issues such as they were, in the election, I found myself fighting in Roscommon in a lone capacity. I resigned from a political Party due to the fact that I believed a colleague of mine in that Party had been disgracefully treated within that Party.

I supported a colleague of mine in his stand within the Party in connection with the mother and child scheme without a means test. It might interest this House to know that a mother and child scheme without a means test belonged to the Clann na Poblachta Party and was not the pet or private concern of the particular Minister in the case. That scheme came from the organisation to which I belonged. I resigned because members of that Party ratted on their colleague in connection with the implementation of that scheme. I have never, however, at any time during the campaign or prior to my resignation, stated that I opposed a system—and I repeat a system—of inter-Party government. I felt all along that the responsibility of the recent crisis lay at the door of the Party to which I belonged and I still feel that the responsibility should lie at that door.

When the different Parties went to the country in this campaign Fianna Fáil asked the people to give them an over-all majority. They asked the people of Ireland to return a one-Party Government and give them a majority over all the parties, all the Independents, who stood in that campaign. The people of Ireland made their decision and my view at any rate is that they did not want Fianna Fáil to have an over-all majority in this Dáil. We all agree that the people are the bosses; they put us here to carry out their wishes and I think that the verdict of the people on this occasion was indecisive.

I remember that in the by-election some time ago in Donegal the Leader of the Opposition made a very strong case against the inter-party Government. He described the inter-Party Government as a platypus, some kind of unnatural animal that exists in Australia or elsewhere. He pointed out—and I think rightly on that occasion—that the inter-Party Government was formed after the election by people who, before the election, never mentioned that they were prepared to take part in such a Government Deputy de Valera stated in Donegal that the people of Ireland had not given a mandate to the different Parties in 1948 to form an inter-Party Government. That is not such a long time ago. In the recent election, however, various Parties composing the inter-Party Government did go to the country as a platypus, if you like, as a strong front against Fianna Fáil. The people of Ireland again gave a decision and in this case, too, I believe it to be indecisive.

In all sincerity I would like to say that I can see no difference in the world between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael except the difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. It is an artificial difference at the moment, a difference based on personal animosities, and if these Parties and their leaders were big enough they would forget the past, join together and form one group. They have one ideal and there are other people in this House who do not agree with the outlook and policy of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

I believe that the people are at present somewhat bewildered. They have given no mandate to Fianna Fáil and did not return them with an over-all majority. The issues in the recent campaign were confused by the tragic episode of Deputy Dr. Browne, and if that tragedy had not occurred I believe that the people's decision in the election would undoubtedly have been in favour of the inter-Party Government. At the present time the people are somewhat uneasy, and I believe that what they would really like is a caretaker Government. They want a period in which to sum up the situation, and in that period it is essential that we should not have a very strong one-Party Government. If the people need that type of Government at a later date they are the bosses and could say so decisively, but at the present moment they have not said so.

Fianna Fáil have put up a 17-point programme. They did not put up that programme before the election. They did not tell the electorate, the people of Ireland, that they had 17 points to offer and that they were going to develop the West of Ireland and do things for it which they neglected to do for the 16 years they held office. In saying that I am not praising the inter-Party Government for any great work they did in the West of Ireland in the last three years. The problem of the West of Ireland has been completely ignored by the inter-Party Government and by their predecessors, Fianna Fáil, who held office for 16 years. Now at the last moment, just before the election of the new Government, the Opposition offers us certain points about the development of the West. I regret I cannot at this stage accept them as being sincere, coming from a Party which, for 16 years, failed to implement any policy for the development of the West.

Again on this matter I find myself in a difficulty in connection with one group in the inter-Party Government —the Fine Gael Party—who have, as far as I can gather, tied themselves up completely with the question of private enterprise. I believe that private enterprise will not solve the problems of unemployment and emigration in the West of Ireland. It is essential that whatever Government is in power will give to the Industrial Development Authority sufficient funds to set up industries in rural Ireland and thus give permanent employment to the youth at present going across the sea. Fianna Fáil have offered nothing to the people of Ireland in that connection. Fianna Fáil have given no promise to set up industries in the West or to supplement private enterprise by State concerns. The inter-Party Government have at least got it to their credit that they took the first step in that direction when they set up the Industrial Development Authority. I hope they will take the second step in the very near future by putting funds at its disposal to enable it to carry out the necessary work.

Mr. Davin

That will be scrapped by Fianna Fáil—according to Deputy Lemass.

Mr. McQuillan

I believe that the people have not made their final decision. I am only one individual, but I do not believe that the people gave a mandate to Fianna Fáil to go back as a strong one-Party Government. I think that the best thing that could happen in this country for the present would be to preserve the status quo and to let the people decide at a later stage whether they want to return to power, with an over-all majority, the people who now comprise the Opposition or whether they wish to strengthen the hand of an inter-Party Government. Personally, I could not accept the 17-point programme put forward by Fianna Fáil. I believe that, as far as they are concerned, if they are returned to power, we shall be back to a dictatorship system once again, because the leopard cannot change its spots.

For the reasons I have outlined, even though I find myself in disagreement with sections of the inter-Party Government, on this occasion, as a complete Independent, I find that I am in conscience bound to cast my vote for Deputy Costello as Taoiseach.

Minister for Local Government (Mr. Keyes)

I wish to protest against the insincere and hypocritical speech which was made by Deputy Cowan. I hold that any Deputy of this House is perfectly entitled to cast his vote as he thinks fit, with or without explanation. However, if a Deputy attempts to give an explanation to the House as to why he has changed his mind, I think he ought to give the real reasons and not imaginary ones. Deputy Cowan says that he will vote for Deputy de Valera on the basis of stability. He says that a Party of 69 members, plus some Independents who will support it, offers a better type of stability for the country than an inter-Party Government. Deputy Cowan voted for an inter-Party Government in 1948 although the Fianna Fáil Party was the largest single Party in the country at that time, just as it is to-day. It is obvious that something has happened since 1948 which has caused Deputy Cowan to change his mind and to cause him to withdraw his support from the ideal of an inter-Party Government and to transfer it to the ideal of a single-Party Government. He has not explained what it is that has caused him to change his mind.

I protest particularly against the liberty which Deputy Cowan has taken in his references to the late James Connolly and to the Labour Party. There is scarcely a Party left in this country that Deputy Cowan has not tipped his toes to. He has never contributed anything to the Labour philosophy of this country and he has no right to mention the late James Connolly or the Labour Party which was founded by him. We must strongly resent any such references by Deputy Cowan. He came into the Labour Party—his stay was brief. He tried every Party in the country—now it is going to be the Fianna Fáil Party. He expressed fear of a dictatorship by Fianna Fáil. He need not worry. There is no room for two dictators in the Fianna Fáil Party.

Deputy Cowan has carefully concealed the real reason for his change of heart. His association with the Clann na Poblachta Party was brief. Since he was expelled from that Party he has had his knife in the Minister for External Affairs, Deputy MacBride, who is the Leader of that Party. Not alone has Deputy Cowan set himself up as an authority in the political sphere, but he wants to be accepted as an authority in the moral and theological sphere.

Cormac Breathnach

On a point of order. I submit that the Minister's remarks are not relevant to the question which is before the House.

An Ceann Comhairle

I do not like to interrupt the Minister, but he seems to be discussing Deputy Cowan rather than the candidates who have been proposed for the office of Taoiseach.

Mr. Keyes

I am referring to the uninterrupted and unchallenged references made by Deputy Cowan during his speech this afternoon. I think I am entitled to refer to the remarks which he made. He omitted to say that he has set himself up as the authority on morals. He has set himself up over the heads of the Hierarchy and Priests of this country to interpret Catholic moral and Catholic social teaching. He omitted to say this afternoon that he considered himself a better authority on these subjects than anybody else. I am sure that his outlook in that respect will not be accepted on any side of this House. Certainly, it will not be accepted by those of us who are sitting on this side of the House and I am equally sure that it will not be accepted by the Deputies on the Opposition side of the House. However, when he goes over to the Fianna Fáil Party he can preach that policy and theory to them, though I do not know what success will attend his efforts.

Some Deputies have decided to vote for Deputy Costello and others have decided to vote in favour of Deputy de Valera. That is their own business. My protest is against the hypocritical and insincere speech made by Deputy Cowan. He spoke about everything but the particular matter which has caused him to decide to vote in favour of Deputy de Valera. Deputy Cowan was expelled from Clann na Poblachta, and since then he has nursed a grudge against the Minister for External Affairs. Deputy Cowan seized his opportunity as a result of the position which arose in connection with the mother and child scheme. I do not want to dwell on the history of that scheme now. The members of the House are well aware of it. Deputy Cowan saw an opportunity of getting his own back. He jumped into the arena and, as he boastfully claims in his election address, he forced a general election. If he casts his vote in favour of Fianna Fáil I should like to ask him why he has changed from the principle of inter-Party Government, for which he voted three years ago, to the principle of one-Party Government, which he supports now. I should like to ask him, further, why he should try to hide the real reason.

Mr. O. Flanagan

It is not my intention to detain the House. It is my intention to reflect for a few moments on the two candidates who have been nominated for the high position of Taoiseach of this country. Deputy Éamon de Valera has been proposed and duly seconded, and Deputy John A. Costello has been proposed and duly seconded. In a few moments I, as an Independent Deputy, will be expected to record my vote on what I know, and what my experience has been, of the two candidates, not on what the inter-Party has been or what they would do if re-elected, not on what Fianna Fáil is going to do if elected, and not on the past history of Fianna Fáil, because it is too sad, too bad and too disastrous to be reminding this House of it on this occasion.

I would like to warn Independent Deputies in particular, because not one of them told their constituents in the recent general election that, if they were returned as members of this House, they would follow Deputy Éamon de Valera into the Division Lobby and have him elected as Taoiseach of this country by their vote. I would like to hear Deputy Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll on that, or Deputy Peadar Cowan or even Deputy Dr. Browne or any other Independent Deputy. For example, I would like to hear Deputy John Flynn, in whose constituency one of the candidates was almost torn to bits. I would like to know if Deputy John Flynn told the people of South Kerry, who pulled the headlights off Deputy de Valera's car, that Deputy Éamon de Valera was going to be his choice of Taoiseach in this country. I hope and trust that Deputy John Flynn will have the courage, within the next ten minutes, to tell Dáil Éireann——

Mr. MacEntee

On a point of order, is it not customary for Deputies to address the Chair?

Mr. O. Flanagan

I hope and trust that, within the next ten minutes, Deputy John Flynn will tell this House, and tell the people of South Kerry and of Ireland, who watched the reception which one of the candidates got in the Deputy's constituency, whether he got a mandate from the people of South Kerry to put Deputy de Valera back as Taoiseach. I hope that is one question that will be answered. Now I am a purely Independent Deputy. I am independent in every sense of the word.

Mr. Davin

Hear! hear!

Mr. O. Flanagan

I topped the poll in my constituency when in opposition; I topped it as a supporter of this Government, and, please God, I will top it again in opposition whether Fianna Fáil are in, or whether they are out. Deputy de Valera came to my constituency. I must refer to that, as he is now one of the candidates. He is now wondering whether or not he is going to get my vote. I want to reflect for a moment on the fact that when he visited my constituency, and he did so on more than one occasion, he dwelt completely and solely on Deputy Flanagan, but, at the last general election, he said: "There is no use. He is as solid as the rock of Dunamaise, and we will not mention him," and he did not.

Reference has been made in this House to bargaining. There has been such, and such will go on to the end of time, because power is mighty to grasp. A man who has been in power for 16 years and has been relaxing for three years has more energy, courage and determination to grab power, and to leave nothing undone to grab it and grasp it again, and he has done so. In an hour from now I, probably, will be sitting where Deputy Eugene Gilbride is sitting now. There is not the least doubt that I have served for three years under the leadership of Deputy John A. Costello. I have done so to the amazement of Deputy de Valera, to his surprise and to his disgust on every occasion that I rose in this House to speak on Government policy. Even on the last occasion, when I spoke for two hours and 40 minutes, he raised his nostrils in disgust that Deputy Flanagan should not have been the first to wreck and bring to destruction the inter-Party Government, as he did with the Fianna Fáil Government.

But, now I am the proudest man in this House to-day because of the fact that I have sat behind Deputy John A. Costello, for whom I am going to record my vote. I am proud to echo every single word of James Dillon's, and, in his company, will be proud to be defeated. It is defeat in honour, defeat in glory. I am going down with men who are the richest men in this country, or in Europe, because they have principles still, and no power and no money can buy principles at any price. I want to go on the records of this House as saying that I know quite well that, on the Fianna Fáil Benches, there are decent men. There are men there that I like. There is nothing I like better than to sit in the library and have a chat with, for example, Deputy Michael Sheridan or with Deputy Patrick Boland from my own constituency, or, in a not unimportant part of this House, with Deputy Cormac Breathnach. I love particularly to have a chat with a decent man like Deputy Seán MacCarthy who said, because he voted for Deputy de Valera on one occasion, that he felt like a fish swimming against the current, but he had to vote because Deputy de Valera had said so.

Mr. MacCarthy

That is not so.

Mr. O. Flanagan

The records of the House are there. If Deputy MacCarthy desires me to do so, I shall quote from the volume later to-night. It is a well-known fact that in every sense of the word I am an Independent Deputy. I have been elected without Fianna Fáil votes, without Fine Gael votes and without Labour votes. I was elected on my own in my own constituency at four general elections, and, recently, I was elected with a very great surplus of votes, despite the fact that, during a period of 18 months, I had to be absent from this House owing to illness. I want to express wonder and great concern at the fact that Deputy Seán Lemass, on his tour of the Independents in recent weeks, did not at least pay me the respect of a call and say. "I know you will not vote for me, but I am making this courtesy call on you." He did that in Kerry and elsewhere. There was a courtesy call paid to Independents, but Deputy Flanagan was left out and was not called upon. I am at sea to know why that courtesy call was not paid.

I want to say that, when I was in opposition some years ago. I was a very active Deputy. I believe that I did my job. I want now to give a warning to this House to-day and a warning particularly to a young man like our friend Deputy Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll, who is a newly-elected member of this Parliament, and who has now decided to inflict this hell upon the Irish people. But since Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll does not know the cunning, the craft and the treachery that are behind some of the men into whose hands he is now placing the destinies of this country, I hope that some day, when this young man has had the long experience I have had in this House, he can say: "I have done a wrong and I have done a wrong from which many have suffered." I warn Independent Deputies who are supporting Deputy de Valera that there is not a citizen of the Republic of Ireland who cast a vote for Fine Gael but will be victimised, and that there is not a supporter of Labour but will pay the penalty for depriving Deputy de Valera of his power for the past three years and which is now being restored to him.

I hope and trust that those who voted for Deputy Cogan, those who voted for Deputy Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll and, last but not least, the handful who voted for Deputy Cowan, will not be the subject of the cruel, vindictive, harsh and unjust treatment that was meted out to them during the last term Deputy de Valera was the Leader of the Government in this country. I hope that will not happen. I believe it will happen. I believe it is my duty to defend Deputy J.A. Costello, to support him and vote for him and pay a tribute to his colleagues of the inter-Party Government who always met me with the greatest courtesy, kindness and sympathy. I failed to get that from Fianna Fáil and I do not expect to receive it from Fianna Fáil in the years ahead. Should Deputy de Valera be elected, I want to warn him that there is one man he should keep a close and careful eye upon and that man is myself, for as sure as I brought destruction on his Government before, I will do it again. I did it alone on the last occasion, but I have Deputy Peadar Cowan with me this time.

Deputy Cowan has brought destruction on more Parties than one and I am proud and glad, charmed and delighted that Deputy de Valera and Deputy Peadar Cowan are at last on terms of the closest possible friendship. That is the company I would expect Deputy de Valera to be in. That is the company that one would expect one to be in who is anxious for power. I believe that as sure as Deputy Cowan records his vote for Deputy de Valera—I do not claim to be a prophet, but I have made prophecies in this House in recent years that were fulfilled—it will be the dearest, the most expensive and the most heart-breaking vote that Deputy de Valera ever got, because it will bring more trouble on him than the votes of all the Deputies of this House, even of those disgruntled backbenchers who were anxious to deprive Deputy de Valera of the leadership of his own Party and put in Deputy Lemass as the leader.

We have to look at something more important than that. Deputy Dr. Browne made a feeble speech and Deputy Cowan referred to the unfortunate matter of the mother and child scheme. That was an unfortunate business, but it does not arise here to-day and should not be discussed. One of the reasons I stand behind John A. Costello and will record my vote for him is—I spoke in this House in favour of Dr. Browne; I like Dr. Browne; he is a decent man, young and easily led and he has been more easily led in the past three days than ever in his 36 years of existence——

Mr. Davin

Misled.

Mr. O. Flanagan

——the stand he took in accepting no other advice but that of the Catholic Hierarchy of this country on a matter which concerns the lives of our people. As I said on that occasion, any country that refuses to give a sympathetic ear to the teachings of the Hierarchy is doomed to disaster. It has happened on the Continent. Since Deputy de Valera finds himself in the company of those people who are out to doom this country and bring destruction on it, I hope and trust that the line taken by Deputy J.A. Costello on that occasion will be taken to the distaste and dissatisfaction of the men who are left to give him back the power and the control for which he has longed. Any country which disrespects the rulings of the Church will fail. I admired the outgoing Taoiseach's stand on that occasion and that is the reason why I am prepared to vote for him.

There is another reason why I am prepared to vote for Deputy J.A. Costello. I believe he is straight. I believe he is the straightest of the two candidates. I remember one of the candidates nominated for the high position of Taoiseach, Deputy de Valera, saying that he was prepared to break stones if he were defeated.

Mr. de Valera

I did not say anything of the kind.

Mr. O. Flanagan

What did you say about breaking stones? Deputy de Valera always finds trouble in defining the difference between an untruth, a lie and a falsehood. Why, I do not know, nor do I know what the difference is. I read the statement about the breaking of the stones. We all read it and it is common knowledge. Did Deputy de Valera raise a stone hammer in the past three years? Did he sit on a sack of straw and wear the goggles that were being prepared for him if he were to leave office? He did not. Does not Deputy Cowan remember; does not Deputy Cogan remember and does not Deputy Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll remember? It is only right to refresh Deputy Dr. ffrenchO'Carroll's memory lest he might not have been politically minded on the occasion when one of the nominees suggested that 45/- a week was an adequate wage for the workers of this country. How does Deputy Cowan intend to tell the workers in his constituency that he has voted for a man who believes that 45/- a week is a proper and adequate wage for the worker? How is Dr. ffrench-O'Carroll going to explain to those workers who may have voted for him that he is now voting for a man who, as the public records will prove, stood by 45/- a week for the workers?

There is another reason why Deputy Cowan is supporting Deputy de Valera, and that is because Deputy Cowan is a smart man. Let no one think that Deputy Cowan is a fool—far from it. I give Deputy Cowan that certificate.

Captain Cowan

It is a valuable certificate.

Mr. O. Flanagan

I give Deputy Cowan that certificate. I give it in the spirit in which I would like to get such a certificate from one who has the understanding of Deputy Cowan were it of any use to me.

There is another reason why Deputy Cowan is anxious that Deputy de Valera be Taoiseach. Because he foresees the establishment once more of Deputy de Valera's miltary tribunals and special Criminal Courts which will result in a flow of benefits to the Deputy in another direction which I do not propose to mention here. He foresees that with Deputy de Valera as Taoiseach the supporters of Deputy MacBride will be rounded up and sent again to the Curragh out of which we released them. That will prove an advantage to a man in the position of Deputy Captain Cowan.

Captain Cowan

It would not take a big room to hold them now.

Mr. O. Flanagan

That will be an asset to Deputy Captain Cowan. I believe that the most disastrous day in the history of our country will be to-day, because when we re-assemble here this evening Deputy Captain Cowan will be occupying the Government Benches in company with Fianna Fáil. They are welcome to the benches. In the event of the election of Deputy de Valera— and there can be little doubt about it now—I trust he will not break any more promises. I hope he will repent sincerely the manner in which he made promises to the Irish people in the past and then forgot those promises. He cannot fail to remember that his Party has promised that there will be no compulsory tillage. I hope that the small farmers living on the slopes of the Wicklow mountains will not find themselves compelled to erect offices, instead of stables and barns, in order to provide accommodation for the ten fields full of inspectors that Deputy Smith threatened to inflict upon them.

He also stated that he would make these old clods till. That is the way in which Deputy de Valera's Party has referred to our farmers. Now these old clods will be made till, thanks to Deputy Cogan. It is Deputy Cogan who will compel them to do it. There will be ten fields full of inspectors, thanks to Deputy Cogan. At least he is ensuring that the farmers on the slopes of the Wicklow hills will not be lonely because they will have daily calls from inspectors from Merrion Street, armed to the teeth with pens and pencils to see that the farmers plough and sow.

In the past three years I have spoken on various occasions from these benches. I have on occasion criticised the inter-Party Government. On no occasion did I vote against it because this inter-Party Government performed not a single act which warranted my recording a vote against it. The work it did was appreciated by the people and the people intended to return the inter-Party Government. Because of craft that Government will not now return. I wonder will we have a Supplementary Budget at an early date, introduced by that Minister appointed by Deputy de Valera, should he be elected. I wonder will there be a Supplementary Estimate of any kind to provide funds to compensate for those spent on returning Fianna Fáil to power. I ask that deliberately. I ask it with a full sense of responsibility.

In the event of the present Taoiseach being defeated and the inter-Party Government, I assure the House that to-day will be a day the country will regret. Since I left school I have believed in real democracy. I believe that the farmers, the workers and the businessmen should have a say in the making of our laws. I believe that legislation should not be left to one particular section. We have a democratic country and the people have freedom to vote. As has been said before, if a dud is sent to Parliament the people have a right to send such a dud to Parliament. The people have a perfect right to send a collection of duds to Parliament if they wish. Deputies are perfectly free to vote for a Taoiseach who will do good or a Taoiseach who will do harm. If they vote for the latter they do so with their eyes wide open because they know the records of the two candidates now before the House.

If Deputy Costello is defeated, I appeal to Labour, the loyal Independents and those others who believe that all sections of our people should have a say in the making of our laws, to stand together. If we go down, let us go down together with a smile in defeat just as we can smile in victory. Let us take our places on the other side of the House and carry on as a solid team, as we have done over the past three years. There is one thing certain : we will make Fianna Fáil fulfil their promises this time. We will make them do what they said they would do. If they fail to carry out their promises, even with the able assistance of Deputy Captain Cowan, I believe that not many months will pass before we will again find ourselves going to the country to ask the people to decide whether they want one-Party Government or inter-Party Government. I believe within the next few months the people will have reason to regret that they were not more determined and clearer in returning to office that Government which has given such good results over the past three years.

I propose to vote for Deputy John A. Costello as Taoiseach. If he is defeated, I shall still stand behind him through thick and thin. Those of us who have done our part can say that we are leaving office with good foundations behind us. I hope that those foundations will be built upon and not wrecked. Even at this late hour I hope and trust that this House will save the country from the ruin and disaster which lie ahead if a one-Party Government is returned.

Mr. J. Flynn

I am supporting the nomination of Deputy de Valera. I feel that he is in a position to form a Government in the public interest. In reference to the challenge held out to me by Deputy Flanagan as to my answer on the occasion of Deputy de Valera's visit to Kerry, may I say that in 1948 I voted for Deputy de Valera on principle without my support being either asked for or canvassed? To-day I will do the same on principle. I feel that Deputy de Valera will always safeguard the national ideal, apart altogether from economic or administrative considerations. I am confident that he will initiate a balanced agricultural policy under which the farmers will receive an increased price for milk and other agricultural produce. I am confident that that policy will be so arranged that it will be reflected in an improvement of the condition and general economy of the small farmers throughout the country, that it will be operated not for one section of big men or of wealthy people, but for the farmers as a whole. I am referring now to the small tillage farmers I represent.

I made a statement the other night in County Kerry and I said with all earnestness and truthfulness that over a long period of years the best Minister we had here, so far as County Kerry was concerned, was Deputy Paddy Smith, that he came from a small farming stock, that he was the nearest approach to the ideal Minister, that he would have the general interest of those people at heart, that he would understand them and arrange an economy that would suit them. I have had some experience of the administration of the inter-Party Government and I pay tribute to the Taoiseach who was easily approached, a big man, not influenced by bitterness or minor considerations and who was always prepared to do his utmost for the people. I appreciate that and I also appreciate the consideration extended to me by other Minister with whom I had contact. I supported that Government in various matters in order to be able to do my utmost for the people I represent.

I shall do the same thing under Deputy de Valera's Government. I shall co-operate with him and assist him in every way possible, provided always that his policy and his schemes will be directed towards the interests of the people I represent. I believe that will be so, but should any difficulty arise I shall always hold myself free to vote against any measures I find detrimental to these people. In regard to my own county, I have been struggling with the inter-Party Government for the last three years and I failed to get them to do anything big for us. I have asked a number of questions in regard to the establishment of generating stations in County Kerry by the inter-Party Government and sought their assistance in that regard. I shall do everything I can again in that regard under Deputy de Valera's Government. I place my trust in him and I feel that good will come from it. In conclusion, I wish to say that I am voting for Deputy de Valera for two reasons, (1) that in my opinion he is the embodiment of the national ideal for which our people have fought and died and that he will pursue his policy to the end, and (2) that as the leader of a large Party he is in a position to govern this country and, as such, is in a better position to carry out a policy that will be acceptable to the people than Deputy Costello who would have to negotiate with a number of smaller Parties.

Mr. S. Collins

With a deep sense of responsibility, I rise to speak to the motion before the House. This, in many ways, is one of the most momentous meetings this House has ever had. Two candidates are now before us for nomination as Taoiseach and Leader of the new Government. The fate of the Government is being decided by the caprice of certain Independents. Deliberately and calculatedly I use the word "caprice" and, deliberately and with responsibility I make the charge, as a young man in this House representing, and proud to represent, an honoured constituency, of irresponsibility against certain Independent Deputies. We, all of us on all sides of the House, should have reached the stage where bitterness and acrimony can be left behind. I, as a young man, would be glad to see, rather than the acrimony and the unnatural bitterness that have invaded this House, people who have served loyally and well throughout the years step out of the way and make room for the generation that is coming and will come, despite all of them. Listening to the hypocrisy of Deputy Cogan coming from Wicklow with his platitudes and lip service to democracy, I deliberately ask where was the bargaining this time and what was the price paid? Let me sound the warning that if I go into opposition, the opposition of Deputy Oliver Flanagan is going to be nothing compared to that which will come from West Cork from Deputies Pat Murphy and Seán Collins. Let me warn Deputy Cogan that the wires he got from the decent people, who were misguided into supporting him, are going to have such reverberations that he will be looking for the support of more than one majorgeneral when the rout does come. It now seems, because of the irresponsibility of certain Deputies who got no mandate for their action, as if we are to have another Taoiseach. Some of them scraped in and the most vocal of them sneaked in, and indeed may now help to put into office many more people who sneaked in. I solemnly warn this fourteenth Dáil that, when breaches were being healed, wounds were disappearing and a sense of unity was on its way, they have, by their irresponsibility and by their complete disregard of obligations, cast back this country from the progress we have valiantly and decently made. Back into this Dáil is going to come again— and I stand here as a young man to warn you of it—all that is fruitful of the seeds of dissension. But I stand here four-square to issue this warning —try to victimise West Cork if you will and we will fight.

I come here to-day to issue this solemn warning—that opposition such as was never conceived before is about to come, because it is going to be honest, constructive, intelligent opposition that will even invade the stupid portals of Deputy Cogan's mind. I stand here as a young man who might, in other circumstances, have earnestly appealed to men who have had an honourable past, many of them an honourable present, to clear off because the finding in this election was clear and succinct—that the people in this country want new blood. They want a continuation of the courage and the honesty that were brought into public life under the leadership— thanks be to God we had it to give the people a taste of what good government could be—of the man that I proudly and fearlessly support to-day, Deputy John Costello.

I am going to put on the records of this House this challenge. There has been talk of no bargaining. I ask the Leader of the Opposition, if he is nominated as Taoiseach, will he nominate again Deputy Boland as Minister for Justice? Will he include in his nominations to the Seanad, if he is Taoiseach, a certain well-known prominent supporter of Independent Deputies who have pledged their support to him to-day? I am making that challenge now because, if it happens, then we will have Cain and Abel. (Interruptions.) Deputy Cogan need not worry. He and his colleagues are about to leave the arena of Irish public life. I am issuing the warning that there is a reawakening spirit of liberty, a reawakening urge to real democracy, and I defy all the efforts of any bought or borrowed Independents to keep back that onward march. Ireland is on the move and, though some people deliberately chose in this House to misinterpret the decision of the electorate, their honour and glory will be mighty short. Grab all you can, but you may find the bowl pretty empty because you do not know how many hungry hands are already reaching out to get something.

Let me say this as a young man. I have high hopes that some day when certain personalities have left Irish public life, have gone to their eternal reward after most meritorious service, into this House will come with renewed vigour, coming from the wealth of tradition that is proudly ours, on both sides of this House, youth with sufficient self-sacrifice and honesty to forget personalities and power-lust so that Ireland may be saved. Let me issue a solemn warning as a young man whom you tried to get out, did your damnedest to get out but could not, that the day of your miserable midnight ride, your intimidation and your threats has gone, because we in Fine Gael have the youth and the energy to break your hearts, and break them we will. Let my last solemn warning be this—do not count too much on your office boys; their support is very transient.

Mr. O. Flanagan

On a point of procedure, before you put this question, which is very important and which may decide the Government, may I ask for your ruling in accordance with parliamentary procedure? I want to know whether it is correct that one who has occupied the position of Ceann Comhairle should vote on this occasion, having been returned unopposed for a constituency on the pretence of holding his seat as Ceann Comhairle, and who did not get a mandate from the people.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy concerned is a member of Dáil Éireann and has a right to vote in this division or in any other division.

Mr. O. Flanagan

It is a very mean thing.

Question put: "That Deputy John A. Costello be nominated as Taoiseach."

The Dáil divided: Tá, 72; Níl, 74.

Tá

• Beirne, John.
• Belton, Jack.
• Blowick, Joseph.
• Browne, Patrick.
• Byrne, Alfred.
• Byrne, Alfred Patrick.
• Cafferky, Dominick.
• Cawley, Patrick.
• Coburn, James.
• Dillon, James M.
• Dockrell, Henry P.
• Dockrell, Maurice E.
• Donnellan, Michael
• Doyle, Peadar S.
• Dunne, Seán.
• Esmonde, Anthony C.
• Everett, James.
• Fagan, Charles.
• Finan, John.
• Finucane, Patrick.
• Flanagan, Oliver J.
• Giles, Patrick.
• Hession, James M.
• Hickey, James.
• Hughes, Joseph.
• Keane, Seán.
• Keyes, Michael.
• Kyne, Thomas A.
• Larkin, James.
• Leary, Johnny.
• Lehane, Patrick D.
• Lynch, John (North Kerry).
• McAuliffe, Patrick.
• MacBride, Seán.
• MacEoin, Seán.
• McGilligan, Patrick.
• Collins, Seán.
• Corish, Brendan.
• Cosgrave, Liam.
• Costello, Declan.
• Costello, John A.
• Crotty, Patrick J.
• Crowe, Patrick.
• Davin, William.
• Desmond, Daniel.
• McMenamin, Daniel.
• McQuillan, John.
• Madden, David J.
• Mannion, John.
• Morrissey, Daniel.
• Mulcahy, Richard.
• Murphy, Michael P.
• Murphy, William.
• Norton, William.
• O'Donnell, Patrick.
• O'Gorman, Patrick J.
• O'Hara, Thomas.
• O'Higgins, Thomas F.
• O'Higgins, Thomas F. (Jun.)
• O'Reilly, Patrick.
• O'Sullivan, Denis.
• Palmer, Patrick W.
• Redmond, Bridget M.
• Reidy, James.
• Reynolds, Mary.
• Roddy, Joseph.
• Rogers, Patrick J.
• Rooney, Eamon.
• Sheldon, William A.W.
• Spring, Dan.
• Sweetman, Gerard.
• Tully, John.

Níl

• Aiken, Frank.
• Allen, Denis.
• Bartley, Gerald.
• Beegan, Patrick.
• Blaney, Neil T.
• Boland, Gerald.
• Boland, Patrick.
• Bourke, Dan.
• Brady, Philip A.
• Brady, Seán.
• Breathnach, Cormac.
• Breen, Dan.
• Brennan, Joseph.
• Brennan, Thomas.
• Breslin, Cormac.
• Briscoe, Robert.
• Browne, Noel C.
• Buckley, Seán.
• Burke, Patrick.
• Butler, Bernard.
• Carter, Frank.
• Childers, Erskine.
• Cogan, Patrick.
• Colley, Harry (Henry).
• Collins, James J.
• Corry, Martin J.
• Cowan, Peadar.
• Crowley, Honor Mary.
• Crowley, Tadhg.
• Cunningham, Liam.
• Davern, Michael J.
• Derrig, Thomas.
• de Valera, Éamon.
• de Valera, Vivion.
• Duignan, Peadar.
• Fahy, Frank.
• Fanning, John.
• Flanagan, Seán.
• Flynn, John.
• Flynn, Stephen.
• ffrench-O'Carroll, Michael
• Gallagher, Colm.
• Gilbride, Eugene.
• Harris, Thomas.
• Hillery, Patrick J.
• Hilliard, Michael.
• Humphreys, Francis.
• Kennedy, Michael J.
• Killilea, Mark.
• Lemass, Seán.
• Little, Patrick J.
• Lynch, Jack (Cork Borough).
• McCann, John.
• MacCarthy, Seán.
• McEllistrim, Thomas.
• MacEntee, Seán.
• McGrath, Pa.
• Maguire, Patrick J.
• Maher, Peadar.
• Moran, Michael.
• Moylan, Seán.
• O Briain, Donnchadh.
• O'Reilly, Matthew.
• Ormonde, John.
• O'Sullivan, Ted.
• Rice, Bridget M.
• Ruttledge, Patrick J.
• Ryan, James.
• Ryan, Mary B.
• Sheridan, Michael.
• Smith, Patrick.
• Traynor, Oscar.
• Walsh, Laurence J.
• Walsh, Thomas.

Tellers:—Tá: Deputies P.S. Doyle and Kyne; Níl: Deputies Kennedy and O Briain.

Question declared lost.

An Ceann Comhairle

With regard to demonstrations by members of the public in the Gallery, the Chair would remind Deputies that they are responsible for the conduct of the visitors they introduce into the Gallery. Demonstrations are not allowed in the Gallery and should not be indulged in.

Question put: "That Deputy Éamon de Valera be nominated as Taoiseach."

The Dáil divided: Tá, 74; Níl, 69.

Tá

• Aiken, Frank.
• Allen, Denis.
• Bartley, Gerald.
• Beegan, Patrick.
• Blaney, Neil T.
• Boland, Gerald.
• Boland, Patrick.
• Bourke, Dan.
• Brady, Philip A.
• Brady, Seán.
• Breathnach, Cormac.
• Breen, Dan.
• Brennan, Joseph.
• Brennan, Thomas.
• Breslin, Cormac.
• Briscoe, Robert.
• Browne, Noel C.
• Buckley, Seán.
• Burke, Patrick.
• Butler, Bernard.
• Carter, Frank.
• Childers, Erskine.
• Cogan, Patrick.
• Colley, Harry (Henry).
• Collins, James J.
• Corry, Martin J.
• Cowan, Peadar.
• Crowley, Honor Mary.
• Crowley, Tadhg.
• Cunningham, Liam.
• Davern, Michael J.
• Derríg, Thomas.
• de Valera, Éamon.
• de Valera, Vivion.
• Duignan, Peadar.
• Fahy, Frank.
• Fanning, John.
• Flanagan, Seán.
• Flynn, John.
• Flynn, Stephen.
• ffrench-O'Carroll, Michael.
• Gallagher, Colm.
• Gilbride, Eugene.
• Harris, Thomas.
• Hillery, Patrick J.
• Hilliard, Michael.
• Humphreys, Francis.
• Kennedy, Michael J.
• Killilea, Mark.
• Lemass, Seán.
• Little, Patrick J.
• Lynch, Jack (Cork Borough).
• McCann, John.
• MacCarthy, Seán.
• McEllistrim, Thomas.
• MacEntee, Seán.
• McGrath, Pa.
• Maguire, Patrick J.
• Maher, Peadar.
• Moran, Michael.
• Moylan, Seán.
• O Briain, Donnchadh.
• O'Reilly, Matthew.
• Ormonde, John.
• O'Sullivan, Ted.
• Rice, Bridget M.
• Ruttledge, Patrick J.
• Ryan, James.
• Ryan, Mary B.
• Sheridan, Michael.
• Smith, Patrick.
• Traynor, Oscar.
• Walsh, Laurence J.
• Walsh, Thomas.

Níl

• Beirne, John.
• Belton, Jack.
• Blowick, Joseph.
• Browne, Patrick.
• Byrne, Alfred.
• Byrne, Alfred Patrick.
• Cafferky, Dominick.
• Cawley, Patrick.
• Coburn, James.
• Collins, Seán.
• Corish, Brendan.
• Cosgrave, Liam.
• Costello, Declan.
• Costello, John A.
• Crotty, Patrick J.
• Crowe, Patrick.
• Davin, William.
• Desmond, Daniel.
• Dillon, James M.
• Dockrell, Henry P.
• Dockrell, Maurice E.
• Donnellan, Michael.
• McQuillan, John.
• Madden, David J.
• Mannion, John.
• Morrissey, Daniel.
• Mulcahy, Richard.
• Murphy, Michael P.
• Murphy, William.
• Norton, William.
• O'Donnell, Patrick.
• O'Gorman, Patrick J.
• O'Hara, Thomas.
• O'Higgins, Thomas F.
• O'Higgins, Thomas F. (Jun.).
• Dovle, Peadar S.
• Dunne, Seán.
• Esmonde, Anthony C.
• Everett, James.
• Fagan, Charles.
• Finan, John.
• Flanagan, Oliver J.
• Giles, Patrick.
• Hession, James M.
• Hickey, James.
• Hughes, Joseph.
• Keane, Seán.
• Keyes, Michael.
• Kyne, Thomas A.
• Larkin, James.
• Leary, Johnny.
• Lynch, John (North Kerry).
• McAuliffe, Patrick.
• MacBride, Seán.
• MacEoin, Seán.
• McGilligan, Patrick.
• McMenamin, Daniel.
• O'Reilly, Patrick.
• O'Sullivan, Denis.
• Palmer, Patrick W.
• Redmond, Bridget M.
• Reidy, James.
• Reynolds, Mary.
• Roddy, Joseph.
• Rogers, Patrick J.
• Rooney, Eamon.
• Spring, Dan.
• Sweetman, Gerard.
• Tully, John.

Tellers:—Tá: Deputies Kennedy and Ó Briain; Níl: Deputies P.S. Doyle and Kyne.

Question declared carried.

Éamon de Valera

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhuiocheas a chur in iul don Dáil as ucht mé d'ainmuiú mar Thaoiseach. Is mór an onóir é. Ní thig liom aon rud a rá ach é seo, go ndéanfadh mé mo dhícheall dualgaisí an Taoisigh do chomhlíonadh mar is cóir, le cunamh Dé.

I want to express my thanks to the Dáil for my nomination as Taoiseach. It is, indeed, a very high honour, which I appreciate. I can only say that I will endeavour to perform the duties of the office as they should be performed, with God's help. I would also ask the assistance of every Deputy in the House. I appreciate the difficulty of the work, as I am sure those who are now leaving office appreciate how difficult the tasks of government are. I can only say that I will do everything I can to co-operate with members of the House and I hope they will do their part and co-operate with me.

I suggest that there be an interval until 9 o'clock to enable me to go to the President and inform him that I have been duly nominated by the Dáil as Taoiseach and to receive my appointment from him. When I come back, it will be my duty to announce the names of the Teachtaí whom I propose to have as members of the Government.

An Ceann Comhairle

On the resumption at 9 o'clock, Deputies on my left will find accommodation on the right and Deputies on my right will take their places on the left.

Sitting suspended at 7.15 p.m. and resumed at 9.15 p.m.