March
1932 saw a change in the political leadership of this country. The Cumann na Gaedheal government in place
since the founding of the State was replaced by a Fianna Fail government led by
Eamon de Valera. On the day following
the setting up of the new government I.R.A. members imprisoned by the tribunal,
set up by the previous government, as a result of attacks on members of the
Garda Siochana were released. De Valera
had visited Athy earlier in February and addressed farmers at the town fair for
what the local newspapers reported was two hours. He was cheered when he announced to the
farmers ‘we will not pay the annuities’. ‘De
Valera Abu’ badges were handed out while the local Cumann na Gaedheal
candidate Sidney Minch had posters displaying ‘Vote for Minch and vote for peace’.
The
local Urban District Councillors’ attempt to have the old fever hospital re-opened
as a district hospital was still ongoing.
Councillor Bridget Darby, with the support of Councillor Tom Carbery and
the Council members, called on the government for a special grant of £25,000 ‘for the relief of unemployment in Athy as
there is no part of the county of Kildare suffering so much on account of grave
unemployment.’ The unemployment
crisis was largely due to the failure of the beet crop the previous year and
the uncertainty around the agricultural industry at that time. Later in the year a group called the Fianna
Fail Workers Protection Club addressed the meeting of the Urban District Council
on behalf of the unemployed Barrow workers.
The deputation complained that Laois men were preferred for employment
on the Barrow Scheme in advance of Kildare men.
The chairman of the club was Tom Carbery and with a membership of 66 it
claimed to ‘look after the interests of
workers generally and investigate any complaints of harshness.’
Athy
Courthouse was the venue for the County Kildare G.A.A. convention held in early
February. The Athy delegates at the
convention were Fintan Brennan, Willie Mahon and E. Lawler. 1932 saw the setting up of Athy’s new hurling
club, while local girls were involved with Athy’s camogie club called ‘Clann Brighde’ which fielded senior and
junior teams. Mrs. Minch was responsible
for organising a children’s hockey team, while another new local venture was the
newly formed St. Patrick’s fife and drum band in Bert. The local Councillor Bridget Darby, who was a
national school teacher in Churchtown, presented the band members with green
and gold sashes.
Arrangements
were still being made for the opening of a library in the town. The latest of many holdups stemmed from the County
Library Committee’s order that no books could be supplied for an Athy library
until the Urban Council guaranteed that any books lost or stolen would be
replaced at the Council’s expense. When
the library eventually opened on Tuesday 19th July 1932 Miss M.
Gibbons of Woodstock Street was appointed librarian at a salary of £10 a year.
In
May Dr. Kilbride submitted yet another report to the local Council regarding
the ‘wretched living conditions in the
urban area’. His report eventually
led to the Slum Clearance Programme which saw the demolition of houses in
Kellys Lane, Garden Lane, New Row, Janeville Lane, Chapel Lane, Nelson Street,
Shrewleen Lane, St. John’s Lane and James Place.
In
July the county Kildare V.E.C. applied to purchase part of the People’s Park as
a site for a new technical school. A
letter signed by nearly 200 residents and rate payers protesting against the
sale was handed into the Council offices, as was another letter signed by
locals who were in favour of the proposal.
The Councillors refused to sell part of the Park and the new technical
school was eventually built on a site on the Carlow Road.
Having
received a grant of £5,000 for road works in the town the Council advertised
for ‘stone breakers and carters’. The carters appointed were named as Robert
Reid of Woodstock Street, Arthur Lawler, Clonmullin, John Rigney, Blackparks,
James Connell, Geraldine and James Birney, Chapel Hill, all of whom were
employed at seven shillings a day. At
the same time the Council employed ten stone breakers.
The
big event of the year was the Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin between 22nd
and 26th June. The front of
the Town Hall was decorated for the Congress, while the decorations in the
different streets of the town were reported as having ‘excelled each other, the ideas and design show some brilliant minds and
the artistic touch simply holds one in wonder.’ Midnight mass was celebrated in St. Michael’s
Parish Church, which was so crowded that the Sisters of Mercy who had charge of
the music for the high mass ‘had
difficulty in making their way to the organ.’ The Picture Palace in Offaly Street was closed
on Sunday during the Congress, while a set of loudspeakers was put in the
People’s Park and chairs placed around the trees so that the immense crowd
which gathered in the Park could hear the Congress ceremonies transmitted over
the radio.
1932
witnessed the start of the Economic War which in the lead up to World War II
brought untold hardship to rural and urban communities alike.
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