Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Aug 1921

Vol. S No. 5

PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT REPORT: DISCUSSION

ACTING DIRECTOR, E.R. CHILDERS

, said he was in charge of the Department since last February when Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald was arrested.

There was frequent application for the "Irish Bulletin" but they had to make it understood that the circulation was very small owing to the difficulty of production and the risks. It was mainly designed for circulation outside Ireland to influence opinion in England, America and other foreign countries. It was very difficult to get as wide a circulation for it inside Ireland as they should like to.

The only other point he would like to refer to was the close connection between his Department and the Foreign Affairs Department. The "Irish Bulletin" was sent to all their representatives abroad who supplied foreign journals or had smaller editions reproduced in connection with propaganda.

He also wished to say that he hoped that the existing difficulty was appreciated, that of fighting against control of the cables and thereby of the immediate news of all events in Ireland, which they did not possess and which was possessed by the enemy. They could not provide immediate daily news of what was going on. That went abroad from the enemy in a way that was hard to correct. To judge fairly of the work done by the Publicity Department it was necessary to bear that fundamental difference in mind.

He was ready to answer any questions that might occur to any Deputy.

DEPUTY G. GAVAN DUFFY

said he had pleasure in proposing adoption of report. He thought it was due to the Publicity Department to have a voice from abroad pay tribute to it. Those who were abroad knew better than any of the Deputies the great difficulties the Department had to contend with. The "Irish Bulletin" started as a matter of no importance and the English Press tried to make it a matter of no importance by boycotting it, but it had dealt so fairly and truthfully with the matters in review that to-day even the enemy papers quoted it readily. It was of course mainly due to the "Irish Bulletin" that foreign opinion to-day did not accept agency telegrams as being gospel. As the Director had stated the main difficulty in getting facts known abroad lay in the existence of the octopus of the big foreign agency called by different names but all run by big Jew firms in London which had complete control of the first news wires in respect to Irish affairs as they appeared on the continent. He had been given to understand that by no means was it possible to tap those poisonous wires at the source. That was one place where the enemy was in a point of vantage where they could not dislodge him. To give them one example of the difficulties the Publicity Department had to deal with, when the jury brought in their verdict after the murder of Lord Mayor MacCurtain the principal paper in Denmark purported to give the result of the inquest as follows:—that a sworn jury of Irishmen have gone into the case and they unanimously agreed that Lord Mayor MacCurtain was murdered by a section of extremists who were also sworn to murder Lloyd George and other leading British statesmen. That result appeared in the leading papers in Denmark and that was the kind of thing they had to fight. A good deal of it was malicious and a good deal was put in rather against the grain by men who received subsidies from British sources.

He would like more of their work should be done in London. He thought it should be possible to obtain within an hour of despatch a copy of the principal cables sent abroad; it was a very small ring of cables that mattered. If the Director had that in hands at once he would be in a better position to know what was the very lie he had got to contradict. He thought if that line could be further probed it would be an improvement to the service. He had great pleasure in proposing the adoption of the report and he thought it was one of the best Departments that they had and the Directors deserved the highest praise.

DEPUTY MISS MACSWINEY

seconded. She would like to endorse what Deputy G. Duffy had said about the good work the Department had done.

DEPUTY M.P. COLLIVET

asked had the Director good and regular communication with the different prison camps. The reason he asked was that, on the occasion of the shooting of Tom White¹ in Spike, an inquest was duly held and a verdict of murder was given. Details of that were sent out to some Department of the Dáil but they did not seem to have reached.

1. Later referred to as Pat White. The same inconsistency is found in the shorthand notes.

DEPUTY MRS. O'CALLAGHAN

asked if the "Irish Bulletin" was to be taken as the official organ of the Ministry.

DEPUTY M. HAYES, B.L.

, asked had the Director taken any steps to attract public attention to the state of the prisoners; the 5 or 6 thousand men in the internment camps and in various prisons in England and Ireland.

DEPUTY SEÁN MILROY

thought that was a most important matter. The Deputies who were released from Ballykinlar had prepared a statement for publicity and furnished it to the Department which had not yet appeared. That was unfortunate because their fellow-prisoners whom they had left behind would think they had forgotten all about them. The camp conditions required very severe comment as the conditions were anything but satisfactory. The food was atrocious, the water supply most inadequate and that defect could not be rectified. He was sorry the matter had not received publicity with greater despatch.

DEPUTY SEÁN NOLAN

asked if the Director received the sworn statement about prisoners' treatment after their arrest.

DEPUTY P. MCGOLDRICK

said the conditions in Rath Camp were infinitely worse than anything so far described in the "Bulletin".

DEPUTY GEO. NICHOLLS

thought sufficient publicity had not been given to the conditions prevailing in Kilmainham prison.

DEPUTY SEÁN HAYES

said the men in Spike Island were very dissatisfied with being held in custody in view of the decision given by the English Master of the Rolls. They held a meeting before they left and they were quite determined to demand their freedom and they were willing to go to any length to obtain it. After leaving the camp he sent back word they were to take no action till they got instructions from Dublin.

DEPUTY F. FAHY

suggested the men from the different camps should draw up a statement of the conditions prevailing if it had not been already done.

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY, DESMOND FITZGERALD

, said he wished to thank the member for S. Dublin (Gavan Duffy) for the tribute he paid to the work of the Department, which was greatly assisted by their representatives abroad.

He would like to say that every day for the past two years these cables had been going round the world but notwithstanding this their position in the world was steadily improving. They had met that difficulty in every possible way. He had used every possible channel and judging by the results these other channels were not as ineffective as one would think.

Last year he proposed starting a bureau in London but certain difficulties cropped up.

He complained of the difficulty of getting news from parts of Ireland. He circularised all the Teachtaí and members of the public boards for information as to arrests, etc. He only got two replies.

The Ballykinlar men did certainly make a report and that report was in to-day's "Bulletin". If the Teachtaí would send in their prepared reports to him with a minimum delay he might possibly be able to do something. Another thing more important is the correctness of statements. For instance one man stated that the huts in Rath Camp were made for 25 men but they have printed on them "Capacity 30 men". Any information should be correct and should stand investigation afterwards. Information was no good unless detailed and accurate.

DEPUTY M.P. COLLIVET

said his question re the statement about the inquest on Pat White¹ was not answered.

1. Previously referred to as Tom White.

DEPUTY E. CHILDERS

asked for written notice of the question. He regretted the delay in publishing the Ballykinlar statement but it was due to the national situation. The statements referred to by Deputy O'Nolan [recte Nolan] were received and published. Other camps, Rath and Spike, had already been dealt with in issues of the “Bulletin” which appeared some weeks ago.

Question put and agreed.