Edition Bobbett2. Speeches and statements by Elizabeth F. Bobbett
1938 Gorey, Meeting of the Irish Farmers’ Federation
Source: Wicklow People, 12.02.1938
Miss Elizabeth F. Bobbett said she was very pleased to come down to Kilmuckridge. She had to apologise for being a little late, but she was one of those unfortunate women who had to work on the farm and she had a good deal to do that morning before she started for there. She had now only one man to do the work instead of six men which she had before. The women of Wexford are the same and were doing the work, and they were proud to be able to shoulder it. Coming to realities, she said the farmer having family labour was depriving the agricultural worker of a decent wage if they could afford to pay it, but they could not, and their wives and daughters were compelled to work on the farm. If a man with a wife and, say, two children, got the dole they could not live on that. The whole thing was demoralising, and it was up to them (farmers) if they want to exist to see that they will not be slaves any longer (hear, hear).
They could see in the previous day’s papers a resolution passed at Drogheda INTO meeting demanding the restoration of the 1920 salary scales and putting forward the various grievances under which they suffered, but she said if anyone was suffering mental agony it was the farmers of this country. How, she asked, could they have the heart to produce anything, as when they go home half of their stock may be in the pound? They can’t afford to buy proper seed, say, wheat. If their credit is gone down and if they have not the cash to pay for it, then 90 out of every 100 farmers will not grow wheat this year. They had no money to buy manures and they may not be able to get credit. The country is facing a very serious situation. There was a serious decline in every branch of agriculture. Their exports in butter, eggs, etc., were falling very considerably and if they wanted to produce more they must be put in a position to do so (hear, hear).
The Government set up a Banking Commission in the year 1935 to examine into the position of banking and credit in this country. That had reference to farmers with frozen loans in the Bank. That commission was set up in 1935 and their report should be published long ago. She understood that when the report is published it will be very unfavourable to the capitalists or bankers principally and that it will favour the agricultural community. That report should be published before any financial or trade agreement is made with Great Britain. Very few men there that day had as much stock on their land as they had five years ago, and many people who had some money in the bank years ago could not say that at present. It was up to them to look for their rights, and they must look for help. They were not anti-Government or anything else. They wanted to live and they were prepared to fight to achieve that. They must be put on an equal footing with others, and the way to get that was by joining the Irish Farmers’ Federation.
The federation was going ahead. Eighteen counties were represented at their conference in Dublin on the 6th January notwithstanding the short time it had been started. Its great success was due to the fact that it was non-political. There were people who were trying to break it up, and that was because it did not suit their ends and because they were a body of hard-working farmers who were out for an honest living for themselves and their families. Their organisation was out for the benefit of agriculture.
About a fortnight ago a deputation from the County Limerick waited on Dr. James Ryan, Minister for Agriculture, regarding the price of butter. They looked for 6½d a gallon for their milk from the creameries and the negotiations broke down. Dr. Ryan could not promise them any increase. Their organisation was spreading through the country and she read letters from Farranfore, County Kerry, Loughrea, County Galway, and Foxford, County Mayo, where they were anxious to establish branches of the federation. They asked for the rules governing same and any other particulars she could give. It was amusing to see civil servants telling them what they should produce and it was the farmer and no one else that would and could do that. They went a deputation from County Wicklow to Leinster House, and all their representatives met them there except a Fianna Fail man. He walked through the rooms while the deputation was presenting their case and would not recognise them. All the other TDs did. They told them they were not able to pay their annuities and they never advised anyone not to pay them. They were not in a position to pay them. The farmers and their wives and families were working early and late to keep the sheriff from their doors, and that would have to end. They would not be slaves any longer. Their remedy was to become members of the Irish Farmers Federation (hear, hear).