BITTERNESS IN IRELAND

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 596, 28 October 1932, Page 1

BITTERNESS IN IRELAND

Minister’s Reply to General Mulcahy.

Cnited Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. DUBLIN, October 26. “ God knows I don’t want to revive hatred and bitterness.” said General Mulcahy, formerly Minister of Defence when tabling amendments to the Pensions Bill in the Dail, withholding pensions from persons who had shot members of the Provisional Government and other officials. Mr F. Aiken, Minister of Defence, retorted saying that if General Mulcahy wanted trouble he would get all he wanted. Recalling his service under General Mulcahy, he said: ‘‘l burned sixteen trains at General Mulcahy’s orders, using whiskv. not petrol, and

was praised for it. General Mulcahy showed himself to be a bully, and behaved brutally when a victor. We want these pensions for the dependents of the men he executed.” The British have set themselves to start a civil war and unfortunately have succeeded, said Mr Frank Aiken, Minister of Defence, in the Dail, when moving the second reading of the Pensions Bill. This measure, he declared (reports th'e Dublin correspondent of “ The Times”), would be a real step towards national unity. He urged general support of it for the sake of good feeling throughout the country. The pensions would cost £25,000 at once and £30,000 in 1933. The ex-Speaker. Mr Hayes, said he favoured the Bill on humanitarian grounds, but preparations were being made for another civil war by those whom the Bill benefited. Altogether, Mr Hayes declared, the Bill was a bad one. The second reading was carried b) r 68 votes to 49.

The purpose of the Bill is to grant pensions to members of the I R.A. and i other organisations declared illegal duri ing the British regime. The benefits are extended even to men who were actually seized in the Four Courts and other Dublin buildings during the 1922 insurrection, and who participated in the ensuing battles which resulted in the virtual destruction of the city. Recognition is given to the I.R.A. and the members of other revolutionary bodies.