Edition Bobbett2. Speeches and statements by Elizabeth F. Bobbett
1953 Barniskey, By-election Meeting
Source: Wicklow People, 13.06.1953
Miss Bobbett said that it would always be in her memory the times she used to come to meetings in Barniskey school in winter nights and also in the time of the seizures of their cattle. She remembered the day when with four inches of snow on the ground a farmer’s cattle were taken and he was not left even one cow to give a drop of milk for a sick daughter. She had fought their cause then and would continue to do so if they wished her to continue. All they had to do if they wanted her to keep on fighting for the welfare of rural Ireland was to give her their No. 1 vote and send her on to the right place to fight their cause.
If it was not so serious, it would be amusing to listen to some of the other political parties and their representations now for the need for financial reform, but they could remember sixteen and seventeen years ago when she was first trying to organise the Wicklow farmers, that when they had public meetings in Rathdrum and other places and had Mr. Thomas O’Donnell and Mr. Patrick Gaffney and Mr. Patrick Kettle down to address them, and they mentioned the need for financial reform they were regarded as lunatics. She believed that if those in the Dail would quit their party political bitterness and come together for the interests of the country, there were some men from all sides who could devise the necessary amendments to our financial laws whereby we could have money at a low rate of interest to develop the country and in particular to finance housing by local authorities.
While the political parties at every meeting were blaming one another, she believed that much of the trouble was because there was not Independent representatives with a true knowledge of farming conditions and rural matters. The fact that we have to import butter is to her mind because in 1950 Mr. James Dillon asked the farmers to take a reduction of 2d a gallon for their milk so that he could export butter for the British price. The farmers naturally would not do such a thing so they reduced the number of their cows. We have now 76,000 less cows than at 1st June, 1951. Her efforts to help the people of rural Ireland could be seen in the increase in the reconstruction grants for farm-houses as over the years she had agitated for that increase and bit by bit it was given. Also it was through a deputation she was on to the first American ECA Chief that the ground limestone scheme was put into force. In conclusion, she assured them of her independence and of her fullest support for any just cause, and as other parties were there to speak she would not hold up the platform. Unity and co-operation in the interests of the nation was her motto.