When De Valera rallied his Mayo FF troops for 1959 presidential election
by Tom Gillespie
AN Taoiseach, Mr. Éamon de Valera, was accorded a great reception when he visited Castlebar on Sunday, April 19, 1959, and addressed a very large attended Fianna Fáil convention.
On arrival in the town he received a prolonged ovation. He was received by a guard of honour of Old IRA veterans from South and West Mayo under General Michael Kilroy, Newport.
The town hall was packed to capacity and the Taoiseach, who was accompanied by Mr. Michael Ó Moráin, Minister for the Gaeltacht, received a very warm welcome.
Mr. Tim McDonagh, N.T., presided at the convention, and among those present on the platform were Mr. James McCormack, secretary, Dáil Ceanntair; Mr. Willie Cresham, chairman, Castlebar UDC; Dr. G. Maguire, Claremorris; Captain W. O’Malley, Newport; Mr. Patrick Feehan and Mr. J. O’Donnell, do.
Mr. de Valera said that some people seemed to suggest that the removal of proportional representation had something to do with the existing position in the Six Counties.
That, of course, was not so. In that particular territory the people were divided into two classes in such a way that every other political consideration was overshadowed.
It was true to say that no matter whether the proportional representation system, or the straight vote, was in operation in the Six Counties, there would be no change in the parliamentary division so long as the big issue of partition was there to divide the people into clearly-defined sections.
As far as local affairs were concerned, it was gerrymandering that had brought about the injustices. In the nationalist areas of Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone they had clear examples of what could happen by gerrymandering, and the same position would be found in South Armagh and South Down. This was not due to any system of election, but to gerrymandering.
Mr. De Valera said that it would be illegal - and, indeed, there would be a temptation - that the party in power in the 26 Counties would revert to gerrymandering in its own interests.
If that happened it would be against the good of the country as a whole.
Therefore instead of leaving the revision of the constituencies to the Parliament, where the majority party would have its way, the government had decided in the Bill that this matter be left to a commission. No fair-minded person could find fault with this arrangement.
The existing system was dangerous from the point of view of stability and prosperity. That was why they were proposing to introduce the straight voting system. They were doing it now, he said, because they might be unable to do it again.
Their experience was that it took two elections to give them all an overall majority, and although this was the first time they had come into office with such a majority after one election, they felt that the opportunity might not come so readily again because of the number of small parties which were springing up under PR.
Mr. Ó Moráin said that the PR system of voting was like a lucky dip at a fair - you paid your money and did not know what prize you would get but your tenner was gone.
In the same way you did not know what government you would get under PR. When the people adopted the straight voting system proposed by Fianna Fáil there would be no more political each-way bets and no up-and-down trebles.
The British Government did not give them the PR system for our good. It was as much an imposition on us as any of the shackles imposed on us under the Treaty.
PR, he said, was a break on the progress and economic advance of the country. He wondered why the Opposition were afraid to let this issue be put to the people.
Mr. Sean Flanagan, T.D., said the straight vote would favour rural areas like South Mayo as they would have the single member constituencies. If the issue was not important their Chief would not be coming around the country telling people about it.
Mr. Gerard Bartley, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, and Senator T.L. Mullins, General Secretary, Fianna Fáil, also spoke.
Mr. T. McDonagh, N.T., said they were very sorry to be losing a great man like de Valera but he hoped and they all hoped they would have his guidance when he filled the office of President. The people would put de Valera on top and PR at the bottom.
Moving on, Dev won the 1959 presidential election on June 17 of that year and resigned as Taoiseach, leader of Fianna Fáil and a TD for Clare six days later, handing over power to Seán Lemass.
De Valera was inaugurated President of Ireland on June 25, 1959. He was re-elected President in 1966, aged 84. That would remain a world record for oldest elected head of state until 2013. At his retirement in 1973, at the age of 90, he was the oldest head of state in the world.
As President of Ireland, de Valera received many state visits, including the 1963 visit of US President John F. Kennedy. Five months later de Valera attended the state funeral for Kennedy in Washington, D.C. and accompanied a group of 24 Defence Forces cadets who performed a silent drill at his grave site. In June 1964, he returned to Washington, D.C. as the second President of Ireland to address the United States Congress.
Sixteen years after his 1959 visit to Castlebar, Éamon de Valera died from pneumonia and heart failure in Linden Convalescent Home, Blackrock, Dublin, on August 29, 1975, aged 92.
I remember the date well as I organised the National Union of Journalists West of Ireland branch annual deep-sea fishing competition on Clew Bay that day. On returning to Westport Harbour, the late Michael Heverin of Ireland West Tourism, one of the sponsors, was on the quayside to give the sad news of his passing.