IRELAND TO-DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 8

IRELAND TO-DAY.

PRIDE IN NEUTRALITY

STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY.

DOMINION PRIEST'S VIEWS. Eire is proud of her neutrality as proof of her new nationhood, and is also sincere in her attitude to the war, according , to the Rev. Father R. J. O'Gorman, widely known on the West Coast as "The Flying Priest," who returned in the Monterey to-day from an extensive world tour. Father O'Gorman was stationed at Ashburton when he left the Dominion last March, and he will now take up the duties of parish priest at Christchurch.

Father O'Gorman's trip embraced the Dutch East Indies, England, Ireland. Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and the United States. After 10 months' absence he said to-day that in his opinion New Zealand was still the best country in which to live.

Economically, Ireland was still closely associated with Great Britain, he said, and at the present time was providing large quantities of foodstuffs. The bone of contention in Ireland at the present time was that of the border between the north and south. The constitution that was passed by the Dail, the Government of Eire, included, in their opinion, the whole of Ireland, and the aim was to secure a united Ireland.

However, although in two of the northern counties 70 per cent of the people were in agreement with the south, the other four counties were still British. The Parliament of Northern Ireland was opposed to union, but the Parliament did not represent an overwhelming majority of the people.

It was hoped in Eire, said Father O'Gorman. that the British Government would accede to their claims and influence the Parliament of the Xorth to combine and form one country. The 1.R.A., which had been much 'in the news lately, comprised a body which did not think that President de Valera was moving fast enough towards an Irish republic, and were using their own methods to accelerate progress. The size of this organisation was unknown, but it represented only a section of the youth of the country. Mo«t of the Irish etill placed their trust in de \ alera.

lather O'Gorman said that throughout Ireland keen interest was the affairs of the Dominion. The monetary changes and social conditions, particularly social security, housing the 40-hour week and pensions. w ere being followed with sympathetic interest