SOME CATHOLIC priests worked themselves into a state about the evils of dancehalls up to the 1950s, exemplified by Archdeacon K O’Kane of Granard, Co Longford, who gave the following evidence in court in a successful attempt to stop a local dancehall getting a licence to hold more dances.
‘I SAW a dance advertised for this hall costing seven shilling and that is only part of the expenditure. Take a case where we have three or four young people in a family and they all want seven shillings-or even more to attend these dances. It is no wonder that nowadays, more than ever before, we have dissension and discord within the family.
It is beginning to become a terrible financial burden on families. What has come over our young people at all? There is no ambition, no desire to get on. As far as I can see dances and jazz bands are the only industries that are prospering out of all this.
“This whole business is causing a lot of trouble in the homes. At the same time, the dance orchestras are becoming the new aristocracy.
“They are treated like princes and they are advertised as wonderful. After attending a dance our young people cannot get up the next morning; you will find them in their beds at 11 and 12 o’clock in the day.
“This is a great social problem; families are being torn apart because of it. Our young people are losing all sense of responsibility – they are becoming teddy boys and teddy girls and rock’n’roll fans. That is what is happening elsewhere in this country. We do not want it to happen here.
“When the people leave dance halls they have no respect for the sick and infirm of the town. Our young people are going stark, raving mad – and it is all because of the dance halls. I don’t think that the people of this town should be asked to submit to the carry on of hooligans from God knows where, and that is a feature of each dance.
“On the night of June 10th, the band, their crooners and their sentimental slush were poured out all over the town. It was an utter disgrace and I hope we will be protected from that kind of thing in the future.
“It would not be so bad if we had Irish bands playing Irish music. Surely, we owe something to our national heritage which is being undermined at the present time.”
Further, Archdeacon O’Kane said that one dance a month was sufficient for local needs. More dances than that was “preposterous”. He hoped, and he begged in the interests of the community, that a stop would be put to the number of dances in the hall.
The hours of dancing should be restricted between the hours of seven o’clock and 10. He added: “Homes are not homes nowadays – they are just places in which the young people sleep. There was a time when children loved their parents, but not any more, and the dance halls are the cause of it.”
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