ACTIVE RETIRMENT KNOCKANURE COMMUNITY CENTRE was due to take place on Monday 8th February at 1pm. Music by Stevie Donegan. To help with dinner count please ring the office on 068 49799. New members welcome.
FASHION SHOW in aid of Knockanure Community Centre will be held at the Arms Hotel on 19th Feb. At 8pm, details from 068 49799.
ASHES will be blessed and distributed at all Ash Wednesday Masses. There will also be ashes available to take home with prayer card. These will be available after Masses.
SICK: Fri 12th at 7.30pm, Celebrating World Day of the Sick, Moyvane with Healing Mass & anointing. Six Priests present.
ST PIO prayer meeting in Lixnaw will be on Tue. Feb. 16.
MONTHS MIND Mass for Patrick Curtin was celebrated in Moyvane Church on Friday last, among the congregation at the mass was most of the present and former members of the Kerry team. Moyvane Choir and Fr. Kevin greatly contributed to the occasion. A host of daffodils decorated the church.
DEATH; Eily Mai O Flaherty nee O Sullivan of the Corner House, Moyvane Village, Moyvane, died on the 29th of January, 2016. Eily Mai, wife of the late Mike Joe and mother of the late Tom and Seamus, and sister of the late Tommie O and Jim Joe. Survived by her daughters Kay and Mary, sons Tim, Micháel, Martin, John, and Patrick (Australia), nephew Mike and his wife Liz, sons-in-law Tom and Mike and daughter-in-law Patricia, brother-in-law and sisters-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Requiem mass for Eily Mai O Flaherty was celebrated on , the 1st of February at Moyvane Church, followed by burial afterwards in Ahavoher Cemetery, Moyvane.
GrouseLodge, Kilcornan, Limerick
DEATH took place on 29th January 2016 of Teresa Tess Geoghegan, (nee Pelican of Moyvane South) Grouse Lodge Kilcolman Ardagh, wife of the late Tom. Survived by her son Stephen daughter Joanne brother Eamon Pelican son in law daughter in law grandchildren relatives and friends. Requiem mass for Tess Geoghegan was celebrated at Kilcolman church on Monday 1st February. Burial afterwards in Kilbradren cemetery.
ANNIVERSARIES: Noreen Mullane, Michael Scanlon, Con Hanrahan, Neily McCarthy, Margaret O Brien, Nell O Mahony, Sr. Leila Carey, Ned Stack, Vera McDermot, Cecelia Doyle, Johnny Enright, Sr. Austin Brosnan, Bridie Mulvihill, Catherine Mulvihill, Billy Murphy, Teresa Sheehan, Fr. Dan Griffin, Bridget Kelliher, Nora Quaid, Christina Melody, Sr. Patricia O Brien, Hannah Murphy, Catherine Kennelly, Mary Theresa Kennelly, Peg Stack, Sr. Hannah Carmody, Mary Fitzmaurice. Mass in Moyvane: Mon 8th at 10.00am for Dolly Hennessy, (Rec Dec). Tues 9th at 7.30pm for Bridget O’Brien, (Months Mind). Wed 10th, 7.30am Fr. Denis Quirke, Former C.C., (Rec Dec) and Evening Mass 7.30pm for Dick Sheehan & Dec of Family. Sat 13th at 7.30pm for Fr. Michael Hanrahan.
Sun 14th at 11.00am for Mairead Moore. Knockanure Mass: Wed 10th Ash Wed 10.00am Monsignor Eamon Whyte. Thursday 11th at 7.30pm for Ellen Enright, Lisaniskea (1st Anni). Fri 12th Extra Lenten Morning Mass 7.30am for Der O’Connor, (Rec Dec). Sun 14th at 10.00am for Pat & Mary Kennelly.
SCHOOL: Thurs 11th at 1.00pm Grandparents Mass – Scoil Chorp Chriost. Mon 7.00pm. Moyvane “You Shall Be My Witnesses” Confirmation Programme (7pm – 7.30pm, please bring books)
BLOOD DONOR CLINIC. At Ballybunion Community Centre on Thursday from 5 to 8pm. 3000 units of blood required weekly. Only 3% of our population give blood.
GAA Clounmacon Victory dance at the Arms Hotel on 12th Feb at 7.30pm.
Leo Finucane is producing a video on Clounmacon School pupils and the way it was in 1962. The 1962 reunion will be held on July 29th 2016 at Clounmacon Community Centre. To see a video of the Clounmacon Centenary Party in 1978, a film made by Leo on the occasion, will be shown at St. John’s on February 19th at 8pm.
SIVE: It’s 57 years since its first outing in Listowel and now, will be staged by the Abbeyfeale Drama Group in Fr. Casey’s Clubhouse beginning Tuesday, February 16 and continuing its run on February 18, 20/21/23/25/27 and finishing on Sunday, February 28. All proceeds from the first night on Tuesday, February 16 go to the Abbeyfeale Lourdes Invalid Fund.
LIBRARY are looking for items connected with 1916, which they will display later, open day to present items in Tralee is on Sat. 13th Feb.
TARBERT COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL BINGO FUNDRAISER will take place on Sunday 28th February at 2pm at Tarbert Comprehensive School. Books are available to purchase at the school office or can be purchased at the door.
MEDJUGORJE MONTHLY PRAYER MEETING meet in the Adoration Chapel room on Feb. 8th at 7.30pm.
POPE and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet on February 12th in Cuba.
EVENTS: Set Dancing Weekend at the Devon Hotel from February 12th to 14th. Earth Week Project on Biodiversity (Diocese of Kerry) An information meeting will be held in the Listowel Parish Meeting Room on Wednesday 17 February at 7.30pm, to explain the project. A lecture ‘The Asgard with Arms for 1916’ by Pat Murphy, Asgard volunteer and historian, will take place in Tralee Library on Tuesday 9th February at 7.30pm. All are welcome. The Munster finals of Ceol an Gheimhridh 2015/16 will be held in Hazelwood College Dromcollogher on Sunday 14th February.
Athea Drama Group, upcoming production of ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ which will be staged in Athea in late February. Directed by Oliver McGrath. Munster Rally for Life will take place in Cork on Saturday February 27th, assembling on The Grand Parade, Cork at 2pm, more from 085 8555095.
February 11th is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and World Day for the Sick.
COLLECTION: Brú Columbanus Street Collection: The rescheduled Listowel street collection for Brú Columbanus, now takes place on Sat. Feb. 13th. We urgently require volunteers to help with the street collection. Please contact Andy Keane 087 2216559
SPACE: The International Space Station passes from Feb. 5th to 20th in our evening skies, with 6 astronauts on board.
GATHERING in Killarney from Feb. 17th to 21st, this is the 17th year of the event.
8TH FEBRUARY INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND AWARENESS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING: The Pope calls us to remember that all peoples are our family and together we need to cry out to end human trafficking of our brothers and sisters.
OPENED Recently a rehabilitation unit at St Ita’s Community Hospital in Newcastle West.
DIVINE MERCY CONFERENCE: will take place in Ballsbridge, Dublin on 19th/20th/21st Feb ( 086/0669203.
ABBEYFEALE HARRIERS ANNUAL HUNTING FESTIVAL:
Sunday, February 14 – The Strand Bar, Strand, Co. Limerick (The South Tipperary Harriers). Monday, February –15 Walsh’s Bar, Knocknagoshel, Co. Kerry (The Macroom Foxhounds).
Tuesday, February 16– Lyons’s Bar, Scartaglin, Co. Kerry (The Stonehall Harriers & the Desmond Foxhounds). Memorial Meet for John O’Connor Wednesday, February 17 – Cryle View Bar, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick (The Carraigshane Harriers). Thursday, February 18 – The Goalpost Bar, Tournafulla, Co. Limerick (The Rooves Bridge Harriers & The Rockfield Harriers). Friday, February 19 – DP Lyons Bar, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick (The Sliabh Luachra Harriers, The Killtevan Harriers & The Minerock Harriers) Memorial Meet for Jackie O’Grady. ALL MEETS AT 11.00 a.m. Food kindly sponsored by publicans.
Hunting is on foot and the quarry is fox –
Enquiries: Doug McGuinness (Hon. Sec. Abbeyfeale Harriers) 087 6829044 or Paddy O’Grady 087 6258933.
INVASIVE SPECIES WORKSHOP: West Limerick Resources is hosting a workshop on Invasive Species Management on Monday February 15 in the Abbeyfeale Community Education Centre (‘the Tech’), Mountmahon from 10:30am to 12:30pm, call 069 79114.
BOXING CLUB: Training on Tuesday and Thursday nights in the old Flamingos, Abbeyfeale, with entrance next door to the back entrance of The Coffee Pot on Colbert Tce. Contact Noel 087 4360339.
“TWENTY FOUR HOURS FOR THE LORD”: ADORATION will take place in Listowel Church on Fri 5th/Sat 6th March. Confessions available for the entire 24 hours.
PIONEER LENTEN CHALLENGE: If anyone wishes to abstain from alcohol and take a short term pledge for the duration of Lent, make your Lenten pledge by visiting www.pioneerassociation.ie.
SINGING of the Thrush on the treetops is welcome sign of spring.
ZIKA virus has spread to 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and five governments have reacted to the news by advising women to avoid pregnancy until the epidemic has been controlled, perhaps for several years. Brazil’s ministry of health announced on Thursday that it is investigating 3,670 reported cases of microcephaly. Thus far, it has confirmed the condition in 404 infants — with just 17 of these cases linked to the Zika virus — and found that 709 infants do not have the condition.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/brazilian-bishops-reject-abortion-as-response-to-zika-virus/
PAPERS: Kerry Sentinel 1878-1916, Friday, 20 September, 1878; Page: 2
MR. BLENNERHASSETT AT BALLYLONGFORD. ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS.
0ur junior county member—”Mr. Blennerhassett, addressed his constituents yesterday at Ballylongford under the auspices of the North Kerry Farmers’ Club. The gathering was a large and representative one, and the greeting accorded to the popular member was most warm and enthusiastic. The meeting was held in a large hall in the establishment of Mr J. Rahilly, of Ballylongford. Amongst those on the platform were—Rev M O’Sullivan, P.P. Ballylongford ; Rev M O’Connor , P.P, Ballybunion ; Rev T Nolan, P.P, Lixnaw ; Rev J Bourke, PP, Newtownsandes ; Rev George Fitzmaurice, Clerk, Bedford House ; Rev Thomas Lawlor, CC, Ballybunion ; Rev J Barton , C.C. Newtownsandes ;Rev J Foran, CC, Listowel ; Rev T O’Sullivan, CC, Lixnaw ; Rev P O’Connor, C. C, San Francisco; Messrs James E Leonard, C.E ; D J Rice, M.D. Ballylongford; T F Rahilly, do ; T Scanlan, do ; Timothy Scanlan, Newtownsandes ; E Walsh, J Walsh, Standish O’Grady, E Costelloe, &c, &c.
The tenantry on the Harenc property mustered very strong at the meeting. On the motion of James E Leonard, Esq, the Rev Mr O’Sullivan, P.P, was moved to the chair.
The Chairman, who was enthusiastically received said—Gentlemen, I thank you for the great honour conferred on me by moving me to the chair. I have now the agreeable duty to introduce to you Mr Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett (cheers), the
junior member for the county, who presents himself before you to render an account of the trust charged to him since he had the honour of last addressing you in this hall. As you are azure, the return of Mr Blennerhassett to Parliament marks a new era in the electioneering annals of this county (hear, hear). He was sent to Parliament by your vote and the votes of your fellow-electors to advocate interests with which, the moral and material prosperity of Ireland is intimately connected. He was returned to advocate the cardinal principle of Home Rule—to demand of the English Parliament the repeal of that iniquitous Act of Union that robbed Ireland of her own Parliament and the right to make her own laws. He was returned to seek at the hands of the Legislature protection for the tenant farmer by securing to him, and, as under the sanction of the law, the fruits of his toil and industry—the right to have that land which God created for the use of man as long as he paid a fair rent to the owner of the soil (hear, hear). He was returned to advocate freedom of education for the Catholic millions of Ireland—the right to educate themselves and their children at the expense of the public purse according to the dictates of conscience and the rights of their own faith—a right fully enjoyed by their fellow-countrymen of other religious denominations (hear, hear.) How Mr Blennerhassett acted in Parliament in reference to those great questions I need not inform you. The reports of the Parliamentary debates of Irish questions is given in the newspapers have already made known to you that no abler or more eloquent tongue pleading in favour of Ireland with regard to those interests than that of Mr Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett. I regret that he does not take part more frequently in other debates of secondary interest to the people of this country, but yet of great utility to Ireland (hear, hear). There are other topics that I would like to touch upon affecting the representation of the county and Mr Blennerhassett’s connection with the Irish national party in Parliament, but as other gentlemen more competent than
I am are to address you on those topics I must forbear for the present from referring to them. Mr Blennerhassett will now address you (loud applause.)
Mr Blennerhassett on coming forward was enthusiastically received. He said—The session of Parliament lately been brought to a close has been unusually long, and, in many respects, eventful. The greatest general interests naturally centered round the debates which took place on the condition of affairs in the East, and while the issues of peace and war hung in the balance, the tamer question of domestic policy attracted but little attention. It is not my intention, however, to occupy your time with any discussion of the Eastern Question. Like everyone else, I have my opinions upon it, but the subject has been thoroughly threshed out, and I see no useful purpose that could be served by my occupying with a tedious rehash of past debates, the time which I hope to devote to some practical considerations more immediately interesting to an Irish member and his constituents (cheers). For the whole of the seven months during which the session lasted I have been I may say, constantly at my place, and not inattentive, I hope, to your interests (hear, hear). Nothing can be better for us, now that the recess has come, than to be brought together face to face as we are to-day. You have an opportunity of expressing your approval or disapproval, as you may think fit, of the manner in which I have discharged the responsible duties entrusted to me as your member (cheers). I, on the other hand have the advantage of meeting and exchanging ideas with you, whose opinions and wishes it is essential with a view to the adequate discharge of my duty that I should thoroughly enter into and comprehend. — An Irish member while he is on the other side of the Channel has an opportunity, which he will not be wise enough to neglect, of learning many things that are useful, and especially of gaining that insight into English opinion, and that knowledge of English character, without which his efforts, however earnest and well-intentioned to influence the mind of England in favour of the just demands of Ireland, will probably be futile, if not absurd. But while this process is going on there is some danger that he may lose something of the freshness of sympathy and perfect harmony of feeling with those at home, without which his advocacy will lack the true representative flavour (applause). Therefore it is that I value so highly the kindness of the friends who, doubtless, often at inconvenience to themselves, have afforded me, now for several years an opportunity of meeting them on occasions like the present. The past session has been distinguished for two measures of great importance, specially relating to Ireland—the Act for suppressing the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sunday, and the Intermediate Education Act. In the divisions
on the Sunday Closing Bill I took no part, With the object of those who wish to diminish the fearful evil of intemperance I have the warmest sympathy, but I doubt whether the measure that has now been carried into law will have the results anticipated from it. To the principle of that measure, involving what I believe to be undue interference with the freedom of individual action and a different treatment of the rich and the poor, I felt that I could not give my assent (hear, hear). On the other hand, there was so widespread an expression of opinion in favour of the bill , so many friends, on whose judgment I placed the greatest reliance, asked me not to impede its passing, believing that it would be a blessing to the country, that I resolved during the past session to hold myself neutral. I could not adopt a principle of which I did not approve, but I am well content that, after practical discussion and controversy, and the fullest expression of public opinion, an experiment is about to be tried , which many believe will lead to the best results, and which if it prove irksome and oppressive, the public opinion of the country will easily put an end to. The next great measure of the session is one which I can approach with more unmixed feelings of pleasure. The Intermediate Education Act is a decidedly good measure, and has been received with satisfaction by the country. It is a simple and well-devised plan for encouraging Intermediate Education, by means that may be described in a few words (hear, hear). Annual examinations will be held throughout Ireland—something like the Local Examiners which have been instituted in England by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and exhibitions will be given to the best in the competition. First year students (lads under 16) will be eligible to receive exhibitions of £20 a year for three years. Second year students to receive exhibitions of £30 a year for two years, and the third year students’ prizes of £50, subject as to the first and second year lads to the condition that they come up annually and pass good examinations as long as they hold exhibitions (hear, hear). Besides this the managers of schools are to obtain for all lads who, having kept a hundred attendances in the preceding year, pass the examinations in two or more subjects result fees varying from three to ten pounds ; so that if a schoolmaster can send fifty boys creditably through the examination he may get £200 or £300 as the reward (applause). It is a measure of moderate aims and of limited scope. It has been correctly described by the Chief Secretary to
the Lord Lieutenants, only giving the Irish people a million of their own money.” It is not a measure which calls for any extravagant or effusive expressions of gratitude, but the good feeling and appreciation of its undoubted merits with which the Irish people have received it show how unfounded is the charge which has repeatedly been made that Irish public opinion is so extravagant and unreasonable that moderate and practical concessions would fail to obtain acceptance in the country or support from the Irish members.
The statement in which the Lord Chancellor introduced the bill in the House of Lords supplied food for reflection. When I heard that statement I wondered, not that the Government had introduced a bill dealing with Intermediate Education in Ireland, but that any government could have
Allowed the state of things to exist which the Lord Chancellor described. He said that if he were to describe the state of Intermediate Education in Ireland he need only use a very short phrase, ” It is decidedly bad. It is defective in quality and inadequate in quantity.” He said that the information on the subject was of a very shocking and of a very deplorable kind, that the statistics were almost incredible (applause.) Had these expressions been employed by an Irish popular member they would have been put down to our national tendency to exaggeration, and the fertility of the Hibernian imagination. A dozen leading articles would have deplored the reckless extravagance of the statements made by gentlemen from Ireland, and would have pointed out their tendency to inflame the passions of an excitable people by the recital of imaginary grievances. What are the facts as stated by the Lord Chancellor? Here is one of them :—In the enumeration of the number of boys , who in the month of June, 1871, were engaged in learning in the educational establishments of Ireland, either Latin, or Greek, or modern languages or mathematics—not the whole of these subjects or two or three of them, but any one of them—we find a population of 5,500,000 people, 10,814 boys or not more than two in every 1,000 of the population. In England there are between 10 and 15, 10 at least in every 1,000 of the population under such a course of instruction. In one Irish county there was not a single boy at the date of the census of 1871 who was receiving instruction in any one of these branches. In subsequent discussions on the bill other facts just as striking and painful as this were brought to light. Lord Emly pointed out that out of every 100,000 of the inhabitants of England 144 are receiving instructions in endowed intermediate schools; out of every 100,000 of the people of Scotland 375 are receiving such instruction. Among the Protestant population of Ireland 199 out of 100,000 receive their education in the same way, while among the Catholic millions of Ireland only two in every 100,000 enjoy similar advantages. A Royal Commission was at one time appointed to inquire into the state of Intermediate Education in Ireland and reported that it was unsatisfactory. The report of that Commission is dated 1858, twenty-five years ago ; and now in the year of grace, 1878, a measure has been passed dealing with the subject (hear , hear.) Better late than ever. But what a record of lapsed opportunities and blasted hopes, of minds uncultivated, faculties undeveloped, careers blighted and ruined lives, is here presented to us. Twenty years is a short time in the life of a nation, but for how many Irish boys have those twenty years swallowed up all the rich opportunity of youth. It is for no purpose of vain regret or idle recrimination that I speak in this way (applause.) There is a moral to point to. Intermediate Education is not the only Irish question which is suffering from long-continued and unpardonable neglect. The University Education of the Catholics of Ireland is at this moment in a condition equally scandalous and deplorable. How much longer shall we be called upon to wait for its settlement? There are other matters also, which I shall not now speak of, in which our need for legislation is scarcely, if at all, less urgent. Irish members may sometimes incur the charge of being too pressing and pertinacious in putting forward the grievances of their country, but with the example of the state of Intermediate Education before us, us described by the Lord Chancellor of England, the wonder should rather be that the Irish people and their representatives have been so patient and long-suffering in bearing the neglect by our rulers of the most elementary duties of Government” Justice delayed is justice denied.” I know no greater crime of which those who are entrusted with, the tremendous responsibility of Government can be guilty than either by active tyranny or passive neglect to perpetrate the worst of all massacres, that which destroys the mind of a nation. The era of the former has happily past away ; its record is written in the most disgraceful chapter of the history of Irish misgovernment (applause.) Let us hope that the time has come when the latter shall also cease, and some effort will be made to repay to the Irish people the great debt due to them in the matter of education (Hear, hear.) I anticipate excellent results from the measure that has just been passed. A great deal of its value will, of course, depend on the way in which it is administered. I think we have a guarantee in the names of the members of the Board that it will be carried out in a fair and impartial spirit, and with energy and zeal for the promotion of learning (cheers.) It is also necessary to its full success that the people of the country should have a due sense of the value and importance of education. I have but little fear on this score. I believe there are no peoples in the World who set a higher valuation on the opportunities of learning, or who can make a more brilliant use of those opportunities (hear, hear.). Irish children up to the age of fifteen have the advantage of a good, though far from perfect, system, of primary education, and they have turned it to good account, as a few figures I shall quote will show. England has 72.5 per cent of the population of the United Kingdom, Ireland 17 per cent, and Scotland 10.5 per cent. Since 1871 1,918 places in the Excise and Customs have been bestowed in public competition. For those places there have been 11,371 candidates; of whom 11 per cent were Scotch, 46 per cent English, and 43 per cent Irish. Of the places Scotland gained 6 per cent, England 38 per cent, and Ireland 56. Of every 100 Scotch, candidates 9 passed, every 100 English, 14 ; and of every 100 of Irish, 22 (loud cheers). (A Voice Good for Ireland.) This shows what Irish brains can do when they get anything like a fair chance. What nobler object can there be than to provide that in every department of life the youth of the Country shall have full and free opportunity of turning to the best accounts the gifts and powers with which Providence, with bounteous hand, has endowed them. On this depends not only the progress and prosperity of our country but the position and prospects of the Irish race in every part of the world. At home or abroad if a man desires to make his way in the world, knowledge is the most powerful weapon that can be placed in his hands.— Patience, energy, tact, perseverance, temperance, many other qualities go together to make a successful man ; but in our time, under the conditions of moral civilization, knowledge is the most powerful weapon of all the means by which a man may hope to make his way in life. How terribly our people have suffered from the denial of knowledge will long be a bitter reflection for Irishmen. Many a long year must pass before the effect of this protracted mental starvation on the position of the race can be effaced—(applause). This is strikingly illustrated in a letter written by one distinguished countryman, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy to Lord Emly, and quoted by his
Lordship in a recent debate. Sir Charles tells Lord Emly that for twenty years his position in Australia has brought under his notice a constant stream of emigrants from Ireland.” “They have ” he says, “natural intelligence, good conduct , and integrity, but in the great majority of cases they have been educated neither systematically nor thoroughly. The deficiency is most notable in the middle classes. In a country where men will pay liberally for skilled labour or disciplined intelligence, where, if you have learned any profession or pursuit thoroughly, you may confidently count upon living by it—a flood of young men, often singularly bright and genial creatures, come to offer themselves in a market that has no place or opening for them. At an age when young Scotchmen are earning a good living and when young Americans have made a position in life, they are still in search of some short cut to that success which is only to be attained by the aid of useful training and industry.” I have been told myself that for every Irishman who has a good position in a bank, a public office , or a house of business in London, there are at least ten Scotchmen (oh, oh). I saw with great pleasure that the Chief Secretary consented in committee on the Intermediate Education Bill to the insertion of a clause, providing that, ” as far as conveniently may be, the benefit of the act shall be applied to the education of girls.” It is much to be desired that the Board may see its way to give practical effect to this provision.’ I am not one of those who think it desirable that identical education should be given to both sexes, nor is it proposed that male and female students can be brought into competition nor examined together. In my opinion it would have been an act of the greatest injustice if, as originally seems to have been intended, girls have been excluded from all share in the liberal encouragement which is to be given to the higher education of boys. A great many women have to support themselves and make way in the world, and they are entitled to all reasonable advantages which may enable them to do so with success. It is of the highest social importance, not only for the sake of women themselves, but also of all those who, as children, are entrusted to their care, that they should enjoy the benefits so rarely placed within their reach of sound and liberal education (hear). I feel that I owe you an apology for having dwelt so long on this subject of education (no, no), especially as there are other matters to which I shall have to refer, but I am so deeply impressed with its vital importance to the future welfare of Ireland and of Irishmen all over the world that I cannot pass it over lightly. Moreover the battle is not half fought yet. We have gained a little this year , but a vast deal more remains to be done. We must keep pegging away. We must never rest or relax our efforts until in every department of learning—primary, intermediate, and university—every barrier which neglect and intolerance and ignorance have raised is swept away, and an avenue is opened broad and wide and free for all the youth in Ireland, without violence or religious opinion or shock to conscientious scruple to the full development of the powers and faculties which God has given them (loud applause). The great and pressing want now before us is for a system of University education adapted to the requirements and wishes of the great Catholic population of Ireland. I shall not attempt to enter into any of the details of this great question to-day. I addressed you at some length upon it last year ; and this Session, on the motion of my friend, The O’Conor Don, I endeavoured to plead to the best of my ability on behalf of the just demands of my Catholic countrymen (cheers). The debate on O’Conor Don’s motion was not altogether unsatisfactory, and it is a significant fact that we had the support in the division of men so prominent and influential among English Liberals as Mr Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke. I hope the manly words of Mr Mundella, addressing his constituents the other day at Sheffield, will be echoed by many an independent English Liberal :—” You have an education,” said he, ” which is acceptable to the people of England and Scotland. Why should there not be also an education provided that would be acceptable the people of Ireland? For my part, I will not be deterred by any bigotry from giving that advantage to the Irish people.” These words express a true Liberal spirit, and if the Liberal party had consistently acted on this principle it would hold a much better position in Ireland than it can boast at the present time. But apart from these growing indications of a change of attitude in English Liberalism towards the Irish educational problems, I am not without a hope that the present Government will deal with the University Question. The Intermediate Education Bill has been described as not merely an educational experiment but also an experiment on public opinion—a sort of pilot balloon bent up to show what way the wind blows (laughter). There are some reasons why the Conservative party could more easily deal with this question than the Liberal. As Mr Matthew Arnold says there is in one quarter, namely—in the British middle class a force of prejudice on this subject so strong and so rooted that we have often been bidden to recognise the futility of contending with it, and to treat the claims of the Irish Catholics for a Catholic University as inconsistent with the practical conditions of politics. That policy does not represent the real mind of leading statesmen, but the mind of the British middle class controlling the action of statesmen who endeavour to put the best colour they can on the action so controlled. The Conservative party leans naturally for its support principally upon the feelings of the upper class, and to the just claim of Ireland in the matter of education the feeling of this class is not nearly so much imposed as those of the middle class, on whom English Liberalism is to a great extant dependant. Then, also, the great force of Conservative opposition is neutralised. Mr. Gladstone lately reminded the House of Commons that is was Sir Robert Peel with a Conservative Government who endowed the College of Maynooth. But why was it that it was Conservative Government that endowed the College of Maynooth ? It was because if the same thing had been attempted by a Liberal Government it never would have been permitted by the Conservative party. The Lord Chancellor said, in the speech to which I have already referred, that one of the chief reasons why the Government dealt with the question of Intermediate Education was that it was immediately connected with the University Education and he added that there was the greatest, anxiety to put University education in Ireland on the best footing, and to extend it as far as possible (hear, hear). I am, therefore, hopeful that before long we shall have, even from the present Government, a measure dealing with the University Question (cheers). In the meantime, the public opinion of Ireland should continue to be strongly and earnestly expressed, no expections, such as in the end may prove delusive, should be allowed to lull us into inaction which might be mistaken for apathy, or to permit the Government to think that while for more than justice in the matter we dare not ask, with less than justice shall we ever be content (cheers)! I have now a few remarks, which shall be very brief, to make on a group of questions which have attained a Parliamentary position that makes their passing into law merely question of time. These are measures to which the general support of the Liberal party has been accorded, and which that party, whenever it becomes a majority, will be bound to make a portion of its policy. Foremost among this class of questions is the motion for the assimilation of the Irish Borough Franchise to that of England, which was defeated in a large House by the small majority of 8. Mr. Bright appealed to the House of Commons by adopting this motion to say to the Irish people. We have no wish that in the Imperial Parliament you should be inferior to us in any privilege, in any right, in any freedom” (near. hear). The Ministers, however, with their Tory following, rejected this plea on behalf of equality for Irishmen and were able to secure for the time its defeat. The popular privileges which the Conservative party themselves bestowed on English and Scotch cities and towns they refuse to extend to Ireland, and they persist in maintaining the monstrous and insulting distinction, that if a man lives in Manchester, or Liverpool, or any other English Borough, he may vote and enjoy all the privileges of citizenship; but if he crosses the Irish Sea and makes his home in Cork or in Tralee he is disfranchised. The Municipal Franchise Bill a similar claim for equality (hear, hear). This also was opposed by Government, and the second reading was lost by only five votes. Municipal institutions are a valuable safeguard of local liberty. They have had but a late and poor development in Ireland, they have at this day only nine corporation, and these with a narrow franchise and restricted rights. When we come and ask that Irish towns shall enjoy equal privileges with those go highly valued and zealously guarded by the townsmen of England, the Tory Government with a docile majority at its back, sends us away with a polite refusal (shame). I have only allude to one other question of considerable importance, to which a united Liberal support was given.
OTHER NEWS: DEATH OF MRS. BRAVO. ; The death is announced, of Mrs. Bravo, of Balham notoriety. Her death took place at Southsea on Tuesday night from the effects of excessive drinking.
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