NEW IRISH LEADER

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 16, 30 December 1932, Page 9

NEW IRISH LEADER

HEADS FARMERS' PARTY. DRAMATIC FIGURE. Dublin, Dec. 5. ' Mr Frank MacDermott, well-known in New York, has by strange bludgeoning of circumstance become the most prominent as well as the most dramatic figure in Irish politics. He is now the head of a party of farmers whose power is increasing daily to an extent that threatens to undermine not only the hitherto considered impregnable position of Mr de Valera, but also that of Mr Cosgrave, his chief political opponent. Mr Mac Dermot was unknown in Irish Free State politics until he appeared at the general election nine months ago, and has since projected himself so dramatically into the affairs of the nation that Messrs de Valera and Cosgrave are now united in attacking him. i He represents the only problem on which the leaders of the two big parties agree since'Mr de Valera got power. The explanation is that Frank MacDermot, as an independent deputy for Roscommon, when the economic war was declared last July, gave the farmers of the Free State a lead when the leaders of the Cosgrave party hesitated. He is now at the head of the most powerful organisation of farmers that the country has ever known. The party, known as the Farmers’ and Ratepayers’ Protection League, proposes to nominate candidates at the next election. At present it looks as if they will hold the balance of power in the next Dail, if not actually the largest party in the House.