IRISH REPUBLICANS

Evening Star, Issue 19786, 9 February 1928, Page 9

IRISH REPUBLICANS

SUPPORT FROM AUSTRALIA An Irish, correspondent of the ‘ New ■Statesman ’ wrote on December 3: “ By a coincidence the annual coqyention of Dianna Fail took place simultaneously with tlie adjournment of the Dai I. Naturally Mr De Valera and his colleagues took advantage of the occasion to hand themselves'bouquets for their parliamentary - performances, and _ assured one another that their position in the country is steadily improving, which is probably true enough. But the statement of accounts, submitted privately to the delegates, which through the enterprise of the ‘ Irish Times’ was made available to.a wider public than was intended or desired, shows that while Irishmen may be, as Mr De Valera insisted, ready to die for the Republic, and can certainly be induced to vote for anti-treatyite candidates, they draw the line at contributing hard cash to the cause. Of the £40,000 received during the last twelve months something less than £7OO was subscribed in Ireland, the rest of the money having come from Australia and the United States. This is a thoroughly unhealthy state of affairs, 'as everybody knows who has studied the history of periods in which ‘lrishmen abroad, on the strength of paying' the piper, have gained the right to call the Tune in domestic politics. Now that Fianna Fail has entered the Bail, and may he. in office in. the near future', it ought to be easier to screw money out of Its supporters at home who are ws -well able to pay their contribution as adherents of Cumann na ngaedheal, Labor, and the' National League. Mr De Valera, however, is ■taking no chances—-to judge from the announcement that within a few weeks ho will again cross the Atlantic in search of American dollars. He expects to make. a record haul on this occasion.”-