THE BALLAD of James Connollyechoed around Liberty Hall in Dublin yesterday as more than 250 Labour Party members gathered to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the first Dáil and the adoption of the Labour-drafted Democratic Programme.
Members were urged by Brendan Halligan, former general secretary of the party, to reclaim the party’s role in the first Dáil Éireann and recognise that Labour’s contribution had been indispensable.
Actor Emmet Bergin breathed life into the programme by reading it for the audience, while Labour candidate for Europe Nessa Childers and former Labour MEP Chris O’Malley both read the Declaration of Independence. Their grandparents had taken opposite sides in the Civil War.
Mr Halligan presented a new paper on the background to the drafting and adoption of the Democratic Programme.
The Dáil met for the first time on January 21st, 1919, in the Mansion House when its members were presented with four documents to adopt; a Constitution, a new Declaration of Independence, a message to the nations of the world and the Democratic Programme.
Sinn Féin had secured 76 constituencies in the general election of 1918. The Labour Party had stepped aside to allow an unambiguous vote for Irish independence to manifest in the election, Mr Halligan said.
He raised laughter from the audience when he quoted from trade unionist William O’Brien who had advocated withdrawal from the election at a party meeting: “We got it through and it created a very friendly feeling between us and Sinn Féin.”
The move was not forced on the party by a more powerful Sinn Féin, Mr Halligan said, and according to contemporaneous papers delegates gloried in the nobility of the decision.
Afterwards, leader of the Labour Party Tom Johnson was asked to draft the Democratic Programme for the first Dáil. The programme outlined the principles on which the government would operate, and Mr Johnson understood he was to put flesh on the concepts of fraternity and equality, Mr Halligan said.
It stated the first duty of the government would be “to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children”.
It would also care for the nation’s “aged and infirm” with “gratitude and consideration”.
Though slightly altered by Seán T O’Ceallaigh before it was put to the Dáil, the thrust of the programme was retained, Mr Halligan said, and this was evidenced by reports that Mr Johnson had wept when it was read out.
“It is time for us to reclaim our own history and to do justice to those who made it,” Mr Halligan said.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the values in the programme were never more relevant than today. “After decades of greed-is-good, we too can declare ‘the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the nation’s labour’.”
He said Labour took a patriotic and selfless decision not to contest the elections in 1918, and could be proud of that.
Deputy Michael D Higgins said the programme was the most important document put before the first Dáil. It was “a dream articulated”, he said, but the tragedy was that many of its themes still needed correction.
