Again, Cos grave

COMMONWEALTH

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Again, Cosgrave

The new Dail Eireann, sixth in the six years that the Irish Free State has existed, met last week in a bitter session. President (Premier) William Thomas Cosgrave, sitting as an ordinary Deputy for Cork, was re-elected President of the Executive Council by a majority of six votes. The actual votes cast were 76 for and 70 against, Capt. William Archer Redmond abstaining and James Larkin, Dublin Communist, absent as an undischarged bankrupt.

The debate on the election was along party lines. Mr. Cosgrave was the only nominee. Eamon De Valera insisted upon speaking Gaelic, which only 10% of the Dail understands; but his henchman, Sean Thomas O'Kelley, indulged in some acrid diatribes at the expense of Mr. Cosgrave and his followers, whom he dubbed renegade Irishmen ruling Ireland in the interests of Britain.

President Cosgrave's reply was stinging. With his fists clenched, his body trembling with suppressed rage and his face pale with passion, he denied Sean O'Kelley's charges and insinuations and defended his policy. "I yield to no one as an Irishman in my love for Ireland," he snapped. "For five years I have been working here in the interests of ... a free, independent Irish nation!"

The next day, by an identical vote, his Ministry was approved by the Dail. The only change was the appointment of Fitzgerald Kenny as Minister of Justice in succession to the slain Kevin Christopher O'Higgins (TIME, July 18, 1925). Ernest Blythe is Vice President in addition to being Minister of Finance, the former post also having been held by Mr. O'Higgins at the time of his death.

Critics were agreed that Mr. Cosgrave's chances of remaining in power were slim, as his position is almost entirely dependent on the support of the Farmers' Party, whose policy is known to differ from that of the Government in several important respects, mostly of an economic nature.