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The Western Mail - Monday, March 12th, 1934.

DE VALERA PRAISES WALES

A Contrast in Nationalism

HIS OPINION OF BLUE SHIRTS

By Gareth Jones

I was listening to a slashing attack upon the Government in the dignified hall of the Dail, the Free State Parliament, when Mr. James Dillon, son of the late John Dillon, of Westminster fame, was booming his criticisms of the new militia in Ireland. 

I noticed the clock.  In a few minutes’ time - at four o’clock - my interview with the President, Mr. Eamon de Valera, was to take place. 

Leaving the orators to their invective, I hurried through the corridors, with their bright green, orange, and yellow carpets, and met the President’s secretary outside a door marked “Private.” 

In a few moments he took me inside a large well-panelled room at the other end of which sat a tall, pensive, pale man with long, delicate hands and thin aquiline features who was dressed in a sombre black suit. 

Before long I was alone with the most remarkable personality of Ireland, hated bitterly by many and worshipped by millions - Mr. de Valera. 

CHARMING SMILE 

He was not as I had pictured him.  I expected a grim, fierce, rigid type, but I found a man whose face lit up from time to time with a subtle, charming smile.  After shaking hands, he bade me sit by him at the desk, and began discussing the respective positions of the native language in Wales and in Ireland. 

“I have always admired the way in which the people of Wales have clung to their language,” he said. 

“Welsh has been preserved as a spoken tongue and has been used and is being used in life and literature to a far greater extent than Irish is being used in Ireland, but we are making headway in preserving Irish as a community language and extending its use throughout the country.” 

Our discussion on the Welsh and Irish languages led to an explanation of the origin of the Irish word for ‘Free State.’ Mr. de Valera asked me if we had a word in Welsh for ‘Republic’ and I replied that I could not think of one. 

HIS TALK WITH “L. G.” 

He then described an historic talk between himself and Mr. Lloyd George in 1921 in which the Prime Minister asked him: “Have you a word for ‘Republic’ in Irish?”  Mr. de Valera replied that there was a word, ‘Poblacht,’ but that some doubt had been expressed by purists as to whether that was a good chosen Irish word, and the word ‘Saorstat’ was chosen instead. 

“What does that word mean?” asked Mr. Lloyd George.  Mr. de Valera said it was a compound word -” Saor” free, and “Stat,” state: Free State. 

Mr. de Valera showed a keen and sympathetic interest in Welsh movements and thought highly of the idea of the Welsh Book Festival and the selection of the six best books of 1933. 

Contrasting nationalism in Wales with that in Ireland, he said that the Welsh people had paid more regard to linguistic and cultural nationalism than the Irish people, and that for a considerable period the idea of political independence had overshadowed the cultural aspects of nationality in Ireland. 

The more the people of Wales and other countries with their own distinctive cultures retained their national individuality the richer would be the variety of thought and achievement in the world. 

TRADE RELATIONS 

“What is likely to be the future of trade relations between Ireland and Wales?”  I asked the President.  He replied that the aim of his Government was to balance trade with other countries on the principle of mutual purchase, and so far as Wales was concerned the Government would be prepared to consider a bargain with the British Government as with any other Government. 

“What of Welsh coal?” I asked. 

“We are now developing our own peat resources, and we hope to develop them more and more, and eventually we shall probably require smaller supplies of coal from other countries.  Nevertheless, for some years to come there will have to be a considerable import of fuel, and Welsh coal would come within the scope of any agreement such as that to which I have referred,” said the President. 

I asked him for an explanation of the principles of self-sufficiency which guided his policy, and he explained that the Free State was engaged in conserving the home market for native products, both agricultural products and manufactured goods. 

EMPLOYMENT PROBLEM 

“We are not reducing external trade just for the sake of reducing it,” said Mr. de Valera, “but endeavouring to produce a better balance between agriculture and manufactures.  In the past Ireland was dependent almost entirely on agriculture, and we are trying to build up industries, not alone to provide a more varied life, but to find work for our people. 

The stoppage of emigration has made the problem of employment a vital one for us.  The shrinkage in the world market for agriculture produce makes imperative for us to enlarge our home market.  This we are doing by restricting unnecessary imports and by developing both our manufacturing industries and the cultivation of the land for the production of cereals.  Peat, wheat, beet, and tobacco will all give additional employment to agricultural workers, while the new industries springing up in the towns will help to absorb more and snore of our agricultural products.” 

Turning from the economic to the political situation, I brought up the question of the Blue Shirts, but Mr. de Valera did not attach much Importance to the Blue Shirt movement as a national movement. 

He concluded with an expression of warm regard for friends of his in Wales and for the national aspirations of the Welsh people, and, promising to greet Wales on his behalf, I left him to his battle against the increasing problems that beset him.