BACK PAGES:TWO YEARS after the second World War ended its effects were still to be found in neutral Ireland with shortages of petrol and other commodities and government controls still tightly regulating all facets of commercial life. Licences were required for private trucks to transport specific products, writes JOE JOYCE
Supplies of Guinness were only a third of what they had been a year earlier and some pubs in Dublin and Bray remained closed: others opened but sold only soft drinks and limited supplies of beer. But there were hopes that supplies would rise to 70 per cent of 1946 levels as Guinness upped its output again by completing the move from coal-fired power to oil.
In the Dáil the popular Independent TD and serial Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alfie Byrne, was making a point about the availability of milk and meat. He got short shrift from the minister for agriculture, Paddy Smith, who displayed ministerial attitudes in the days before PR advisers in this front page report:
ALD BYRNE SUSPENDED BY DÁIL
ALDERMAN A BYRNE was suspended in the Dáil yesterday, having refused to resume his seat when told to do so by the Speaker.
He had asked Mr PJ Smith, the Minister for Agriculture, if he had made any arrangements for the storage of dried milk or tinned milk, or milk in any form, for home use; and if he intended to build up a reserve of tinned, preserved or frozen meat for home use.
The Minister said he saw no need for making any special arrangements of the kind suggested.
Ald Byrne: What steps has the Minister taken to avert hardships if too many of our milch cows are exported, leaving us short of milk here, or too much beef, leaving us short of meat at reasonable prices?
The Minister: There is no reference in either of the questions to the export of milch cows.
Ald Byrne: The Minister is aware that there is a serious shortage of milk, not alone in the city, but in many other parts of the country, and what steps is he taking to prevent the recurring hardships of bringing people long distances trying to secure supplies?
The Minister: People are very glad to get what they want by travelling long distances.
When the Speaker called the next question, Ald Byrne remained on his feet, and said that the Minister’s reply was not a reply that he would expect from a Minister.
The Speaker: The deputy will resume his seat.
Ald Byrne: I will persist until I get a satisfactory answer. I hold I am entitled to a reply.
The Speaker: The deputy will resume his seat.
Ald Byrne continued to protest, and the Speaker ordered him to leave the House.
Ald BYRNE: I will stay here until I get an answer.
The Speaker: I am compelled to name the deputy.
Mr Lemass moved that the deputy be suspended. When the Speaker put the question that Deputy Byrne be suspended to the House, there was no dissent, and he declared the motion carried.
To read any of these stories and a court report by two German spies accusing the Irish correspondent of the Daily Mail of libel for describing them (accurately) as German spies, go to www.irishtimes.com/150