By the start of 1932, with the dispute about to drag on into its second year, there was little sign of a resolution. An impasse had been reached. Miss Dunbar Harrison continued to go about her work in Castlebar while the vast majority of her library centres throughout the county went unused.
P.J. Bartley was still carrying out his duties as Commissioner, but he too was hampered by a lack of co-operation. Many of the council’s sub-committees were boycotted, causing severe problems in the education and social welfare sections. The prospect of a general election in the New Year was the one possible change in the political landscape. The Cumann na nGaedheal Party were wary of fighting an election in Mayo with virtually all of their TDs and local representatives opposing their policy on the librarian issue. The cabinet decided to get themselves off the hook by offering Miss Dunbar Harrison an equivalent position in the civil service. This was little more than a flimsy fig-leaf to protect their political vanity. They tried to spin this as a promotion for her, though few people saw it as anything other than a humiliating climb-down on their part.
This solution had been mooted for some time and had long been rumoured in Mayo. It had in fact been suggested to Sir Joseph Glynn in his meetings with members of the Catholic hierarchy as early as spring 1931. The government at the time did not come out and quash this as a possibility.
As with every other aspect of this saga, the government’s handling of their climb-down was less than assured. On 2 January The Irish Times stated that there was a ‘possible post elsewhere’. ‘It is reported,’ wrote the newspaper, ‘that Miss Dunbar Harrison is about to retire from the post of librarian to the Mayo county library at Castlebar … In the conditions which prevailed since her appointment, the usefulness of the library has been greatly circumscribed … Our Castlebar correspondent telegraphing last night, stated that Miss Dunbar Harrison was greatly distressed at the announcement of her resignation, which she declared to be utterly unfounded. Beyond rumour that she was to be transferred, she had heard nothing officially. The commissioner [P.J. Bartley] had not mentioned it to her, and in the circumstances it was unthinkable that she should resign. She added: “I like the work, and I love the people who have shown me every kindness, and I am not likely to resign because some people think I should go elsewhere.”’1
The Irish Press, had a different slant on the story. Its local correspondent reported a ‘sensational development in library dispute’, and that ‘a curious situation had arisen … Miss Dunbar Harrison, the Mayo librarian, was very indignant when I called on her private residence this morning to interview her about her supposed resignation. “It’s a fabrication like the silly lies circulated a few weeks ago by an English newspaper; but I don’t mind it, and will not discuss it with you,” she vehemently declared … “I have not resigned and have no intention of resigning.”’
The Press sought a response from the Minister for Local Government. On being asked for a statement Richard Mulcahy said, ‘I cannot say whether Miss Harrison’s resignation has reached the department or not.’2 Three days later, undeterred by the denials and confusion, the Press confidently stated that a job had been found for Miss Dunbar Harrison in the civil service.
‘Is the protracted Mayo librarian controversy about to be ended by the transfer of Miss Dunbar Harrison to a post in the Department of Industry and Commerce?’ asked The Irish Press. ‘The recent announcement in a daily newspaper to the effect that Miss Harrison had resigned was immediately and vigorously denied by Miss Harrison herself to the Castlebar representative of The Irish Press. The secretary of Mayo County Council also stated that he had not received Miss Harrison’s resignation. It is now reported that Miss Harrison is about to be transferred to the statistics branch of the Department of Industry and Commerce at, so it is stated, a higher remuneration than the £250 per annum which she is now receiving in Mayo.
‘The decision to transfer Miss Harrison was made a month ago, after preliminary local soundings … a difficulty arose as to the post which would have to be given to her, as in the circumstances she could not be asked to resign … There is no intention as yet to restore the County Council but such a step may be hinted at in the election campaign.’3
On 6 January the Irish Independent’s banner headline read, ‘New Post for County Mayo Librarian’. The same day The Irish Press reported that Miss Dunbar Harrison had left Castlebar for Dublin. The prevailing local opinion was that the government, in order to relieve the crisis created by Miss Dunbar Harrison’s appointment following the abolition of the County Council, were arranging to transfer her in order to regain the confidence of the Mayo clergy.
The Irish Press also recounted that it was rumoured locally that Miss Dunbar Harrison was to be offered the post of librarian in the Dáil. This yarn seems somewhat mischievous as it is very unlikely that the government would have even contemplated such a move. One can only imagine Letitia Dunbar Harrison working in the same building in which she had been the subject of so much debate the previous June and meeting in the corridors so many of the deputies who had been critical of her, her background and her education. Not only that, one could foresee the Fianna Fáil Party making much political capital of her acknowledged inability to speak Irish.
Confusion reigned for a number of days. It is difficult to believe that the Department of Local Government would decide to move Miss Dunbar Harrison without first discussing it with her, but initially she seemed genuinely unhappy with the announcement in the newspapers. It would seem that some pressure had to be applied to get her to comply with their suggestion, if suggestion it was, perhaps threatening to forcibly transfer her if she did not agree to go of her own accord. The initial intention may have been to move her to the Department of Industry and Commerce, but the Department of Defence was where she ended up. But as luck would have it, at the same time as the Government was looking around for a position in the Civil Service in Dublin for Miss Dunbar Harrison, the person responsible for the Department of Defence’s Military library Mr R.J. Flood, an inveterate memo writer, had been making numerous submissions to his superior officers. He declared that, owing to the shortage of staff and the enormous number of books purchased, he was unable to keep up with his duties. Urgent representations had been made to the Department of Finance in September 1931 ‘for the provision of badly needed additional staff to cope with essential library work’.
On 8 January The Irish Press announced that Miss Dunbar Harrison had returned from Dublin and disclosed that she had accepted a post in the capital. She declined to make a statement but when asked was she satisfied with the change she replied, ‘I am delighted with it.’ This was, if not quite the end, the beginning of the end. On 16 January The Irish Press, which seemed to have very good sources both at a local level in Mayo and at civil service level in Dublin, reported that the Mayo library committee, at a special meeting convened by Commissioner Bartley, had accepted Miss Dunbar Harrison’s resignation. She was to hand over her keys to Mr Egan, the County Secretary, on the Tuesday when her resignation took effect, but on the Sunday, ‘she became the victim of influenza and was unable to be present’. No date had been given for when she was to take up her duties at the Department of Defence, though it was confidently stated that ‘her appointment there will not entail the displacement of any present official of the library.’ The Press went on to add that ‘apart from some works of reference, the library is purely composed of military works.’4
Chapter 19
1. The Irish Times, 2 January 1932, p.7.
2. Irish Press, 2 January 1932, p.1.
3.Ibid., 5 January 1932, p.1.
4.Ibid., 16 January 1932, p.4.