FROM THE ARCHIVES:A year after the start of the first World War there was a continuous recruiting drive to entice volunteers into the British army in Dublin. This report covered one of the daily meetings at the time. – JOE JOYCE
A RECRUITING meeting was held on Sunday afternoon in the People’s Park, Blackrock [Co Dublin]. There was a large crowd present. The meeting was held under the auspices of the City and County Recruiting Committee.
Sir Maurice Dockrell, D.L. said the Germans would have them believe that they were friendly to Ireland. The Germans belonged to the feline tribe. They were like the tiger, and sprang upon you before you knew where you were. The Allies were going to win – of that there was no doubt. But they were fighting a powerful nation and must have more recruits. Blackrock had done well, and they wanted still more men.
Mr. H. S. Doig said in days gone by Irishmen were divided in politics and in many other ways. Today they were standing together, resolved and determined to preserve liberty and freedom in this country. He was standing that day on the same platform as his friend, Lieutenant Healy, whom they all knew belonged to a great political family in this country .
They knew there was a man named T. D. Sullivan, who wrote their National Anthem, “God save Ireland”. Today their countrymen were singing that song as they walked into the trenches. They knew they never met a man named Sullivan who was not a fine fighting man, and Lieutenant Maurice Healy was a member of the glorious fighting Sullivan family.
He asked them to cheer up Mr. Healy on his way to the front and the work he had to do. The most cheerful men he had met were the soldiers in the trenches, and he said, without the least hesitation, that the Irishmen were the best.
A general told him to send out Irish soldiers, for they were always the most cheerful and willing, and anything he asked them to do, if it were at all possible, they would carry it out.
Mr James Brady said this was a fight for freedom and civilization. He believed that German influence and money was the cause of the old House [of parliament] in College Green not having been opened before today.
Lieutenant Maurice Healy said that this was a very interesting day for him, for he had expected to be in the trenches on Sunday, 19th September. He was not there because they would not let him go. He was sent to Ireland by the Colonel of the 4th Battalion of the Dublin Fusiliers to get men to fill up the gaps made in the battalion.
He had made a bet that he would raise 1,000 recruits. He had not succeeded, so they had kept him at home until he fulfilled his bet. (Hear, hear, and a voice – “You will get them, sir.”) He hoped he would, but was sorry he would have to remain in Ireland.
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