Speakers brought Westmeath political figures to life at well attended history weekend

North Westmeath Historical Society were pleased by the number of people who attended the three talks they held on the weekend of Friday November 7 to Sunday November 9 in Castlepollard.

On Friday night in Castle Varagh Hotel John Fagan, the grandson of Charlie Fagan, Gartlandstown, who served as a TD for this area from 1933 until his retirement in 1961, gave an interesting talk on aspects of his grandfather’s political career.

Charlie Fagan, as he was known, grew up in Lismacaffrey where his parents farmed and ran the local post-office and a shop/ licensed premises.

His mother was a sister of Ned Hope the well-known race horse breeder and owner who owned a large farm at Gartlandstown . In time Charlie Fagan began to assist his uncle at Gartlandstown and together they operated a large livestock dealing agency buying and selling cattle for the home market and for export to England.

Ned Hope had been a county councillor representing the Kinturk division and in 1928 Charlie Fagan was successful in his first attempt to become a member of Westmeath County Council running as an Independent in the Coole Electoral Area.

In 1932 Fianna Fail, led by Eamon de Valera, entered Government with the support of the Labour Party and some Independent TDs. One of the first policies to be implemented by Mr. de Valera was the withholding of the Land Annuities payable to the British Exchequer as a direct result of this action the British government placed tariffs on Irish imports making them more expensive to purchase. Cattle exports to Britain witnessed a sharp decline and beef farmers in particular were badly affected.

Frustrated by the collapse in farm incomes Charlie Fagan joined a new farming organisation The National Farmers and Ratepayers League established in October 1932.The principal aim of the League was to undo the damage caused by this “Economic War” between the two countries and restore the cattle trade to its former strength.

Mr. de Valera called a surprise general election to take place in January of 1933 and the Farmers and Ratepayers League announced they were forming a political party to contest the election. This new party was called the Centre Party and it ran two candidates in the Longford Westmeath constituency – Robert Belton and Charlie Fagan. Charlie Fagan was elected to Dáil Éireann on this, his first attempt, and managed to retain his seat until his retirement from politics in 1961.

John spoke about his grandfather as a Centre Party TD agreeing to unite with Cumann na nGaedheal and the Army Comrades Association in a new political party called Fine Gael which was established in September 1933.

He was unable to solve the mystery surrounding Charlie’s decision to leave the party in 1948 or why he returned to the fold in 1954.

John mentioned Charlie Fagan’s service as a member of Westmeath County Council where he served as Chairman for five years in a row from 1942 until 1946 and again in 1955.

On Saturday night in the Parish Centre Bill Ryan gave a talk on the Fianna Fail TD Joe Kennedy who served in Dáil Éireann from 1927 until his death in February 1965.

Winning a two-year scholarship to attend Saint Finian’s in 1910 was an important factor in Joe Kennedy’s eventual successful career as a politician, Bill stated, as it placed him in the very small cohort of people who received a secondary education, which was a great advantage at that time.

The role of Larry Ginnell was discussed and his conversion to Sinn Féin following the 1916 Rising probably influenced the young Joe to follow suit.

It was while campaigning for Larry Ginnell in the 1918 General Election that Joe was first arrested by the authorities and in early 1919 he began a one-year sentence in Mountjoy Prison for the “crime” of reading out the 1916 Proclamation at a public meeting.

Joe Kennedy spent most of the Civil War in Gormanston internment Camp and at one stage shared a cell with his fellow Anti-Treaty supporter Frank O Connor .

In May 1926 Joe, along with John Macken of Whitehall, helped to establish a Fianna Fáil Cumann in Castlepollard and he was also very active in organising cumanns throughout county Westmeath.

Joe Kennedy was first elected to the Dáil in June 1927 and thus began a long career as a Fianna Fáil TD who managed to retain his seat without interruption for almost forty years. Perhaps Joe’s finest hour was in 1951 when Taoiseach de Valera appointed him as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Welfare, a position he held until Fianna Fail lost power in 1954.

Mr Kennedy was re-appointed to the same position when Fianna Fail returned to power in 1957 and held that position until 1959 when he resigned from the post.

In 1928 he had been elected to serve on Westmeath County Council and was re-elected to the Council in every election subsequently until his death.

Seosamh Ó Cinnéide was a genuine lover of the Gaelic language and promoted it throughout his career. For him the phrase “not free merely but Gaelic as well” was not just a catch phrase but an objective and one he struggled to achieve with limited success.

In an age when indoor swimming pools did not exist, the local lakes were popular swimming venues during the summer months, especially with the younger generations. The talk concluded with the speaker recalling Joe’s connection with the bathing place at Coolure where, under his expert tuition, many young Castlepollard men learnt to swim. In conjunction with Tom Black, the owner of Coolure House and farm, the TD, with the aid of the Council, helped to develop a swimming pool on the lake complete with diving boards and walkways and lifebuoys.

Following the talk, a vote of thanks was proposed by Donie Cassidy who shared with the audience some of his memories of the late TD whom he remembered with much affection.

The weekend of talks on the theme of recalling former politicians from Westmeath concluded on Sunday afternoon with a talk by Ruth Illingworth on Gerry L’Estrange in the Castle Varagh Hotel.

A very well attended talk heard Ruth almost restore the late TD to life as she spoke about his many sporting achievements and his stormy outbursts in the Dáil chamber – outbursts which frequently saw him being physically removed from the chamber to the amusement of his fellow TDs.

Ruth’s genuine affection for Deputy L’Estange was patent and made her talk even more engaging. Unlike the other talks that weekend most of the audience at Ruth’s talk knew and remembered Gerry L’Estrange quite well. Even those who knew Gerry well learnt something new about him thanks to her in-depth investigation of his life.

Following Ruth’s talk further light was thrown upon the late deputy’s career and personality thanks to memories of Gerry shared by both Frank McDermott and Paul McGrath whose recollections caused some laughter amongst the appreciative audience.

North Westmeath Historical Society are grateful for the support given them by Westmeath County Council. They would also like to thank the three speakers.