Córas na Poblachta
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Córas na Poblachta | |
---|---|
President | Simon Donnelly |
Youth-wing Leader | Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin |
Founded | 21 February 1940 |
Dissolved | c. 1944 |
Newspaper | Aiséirí |
Youth wing | Aicéin |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-right |
Córas na Poblachta (Irish:
Origins
The idea for a new party was discussed at a meeting in
Also in attendance at the first meeting was Seamus O'Donovan, Director of Chemicals on IRA Headquarters Staff in 1921 and architect of the IRA Sabotage Campaign in England by the IRA in 1939–40. Indeed, O'Donovan proposed several of the basic resolutions. Additionally the meeting was attended by Eoin O'Duffy and several former leaders of the Irish Christian Front.[2]
Many members of the Irish far-right joined Córas na Poblachta including Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, who became the leader of the party's youth wing Aicéin and would go on to found Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, Alexander McCabe, Maurice O'Connor and Reginald Eager from the Irish Friends of Germany, George Griffin, Patrick Moylett, his brother John and Joseph Andrews of the People's National Party, Dermot Brennan of Saoirse Gaedheal, and Hugh O'Neill and Alexander Carey of Córas Gaedhealach. As a result, the party assumed a pro-German and anti-semitic attitude which was frequently expressed in party functions, and Gardaí suspected Córas members of daubing the walls of Trinity College in anti-semitic slogans following the visit of British politician Leslie Hore-Belisha to Ireland in 1941.[3]
Socialist republicans Nora Connolly O'Brien and Helena Molony took an interest in the group. Reflecting divisions within the IRA, a minority of the party's leaders sympathised with communism rather than fascism.[4]
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Irish republicanism |
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Aims
The main aim of Córas na Poblachta was the formal declaration of a
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe
The party had close ties with the Irish nationalist and pro-fascist party Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, whose leader, Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, had led Córas na Poblachta's youth wing Aicéin until its independence was terminated in 1942. There was talk of a merger however while the majority of the party's executive committee, noted by G2 to be made up of "four ex-Army men, old I.R.A., ex-Blue Shirts and a number of I.R.A. who had been active up until comparatively recently", desired a combination of Ireland's extreme nationalist movements, the three most prominent leaders Simon Donnelly, Sean Dowling and Roger McCorley opposed one due to the fear that the party would be submerged in a joint organisation. Ó Cuinneagáin was dismissive of Córas na Poblachta's prospects and discussions between him and the party's leaders reinforced their fears that Ó Cuinneagáin sought an outright takeover by Aiséirghe.[8] Proposals for a merging of the two parties were dropped though they continued to maintain cordial relations and co-operated in the 1943 Irish general election.[9]
Support
The party was not successful and failed to take a seat in a by-election held shortly after the party's foundation. The party slowly fell apart, and Tim Pat Coogan notes that: “Dissolution occurred because people tended to discuss the party rather than join it.” Importantly, the party was not supported by the hardcore of republican legitimatists, such as Brian O'Higgins, who viewed the IRA Army Council as the legitimate government of an existing Irish Republic. Indeed, in March 1940, O'Higgins published a pamphlet entitled Declare the Republic lambasting the new party as making what he regarded as false promises that would be compromised on following the party's election to the Oireachtas.
1943 General Election
Córas fielded candidates in the 1943 General Election, none getting elected and receiving a total of 3,892 votes between them.
Candidate | Constituency |
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Denis J. O'Driscoll | Tipperary |
Simon Donnelly | Dublin South |
Sean Dowling | Dublin South |
Martin Bell | Dublin North-East |
Legacy
Although a failure, Tim Pat Coogan argues Córas was the “nucleus” of the Clann na Poblachta party which emerged to help take power from Fianna Fáil in 1948.
Party publications
- Summary of policy, Dublin: Córas na Poblachta Central Committee, 1940.
- The republican plan for the new Ireland, Dublin: Córas na Poblachta Central Committee, 1942.
- Aicein: voice of the Irish Youth Movement, Córas na Poblachta, ca. 1941.
References
- ^ Political Parties in the Republic of Ireland. 1985. Retrieved 20 December 2018 – via Internet Archive.
Córas na Poblachta.
- ISBN 0199276552.
- ISBN 9780719079733.
- ^ Douglas (2009), p. 80
- ISBN 0006531555.
- ^ Douglas (2009), p. 78
- ^ "SAOIRSE -- 50 Years Ago August 1997". homepage.eircom.net. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
- ^ Douglas (2009), p. 171-172
- ^ Douglas (2009), p. 187
External links
- "50 Years Ago Córas na Poblachta", Saoirse, August 1997.