"Aims of Fianna FÁil in Office"

17 March 1932

Eamon de Valera

Eamon de Valera took advantage of this St. Patrick's Day radio broadcast, nine days after Fianna Fáil took office for the first time, to outline his party's political aims. The peaceful transfer of power after the 1932 general election, from the winning to the losing side in the Irish Civil War, consolidated the democratic tradition in the new Irish state.

SEE ALSO de Valera, Eamon; Political Parties in Independent Ireland; Politics: Independent Ireland since 1922

This is the first occasion that I have had the opportunity of speaking at the same moment to the Irish people at home and in the United States of America.

The fifteenth centenary anniversary of the coming of St. Patrick, the year of the Eucharistic Congress, the recent election by the people of this state of the first Fianna Fáil government, all combine to make this year's celebration of the national festival one of unique interest our history.

For us here in Ireland the National Feast Day is now drawing to a close. For you who are listening to me beyond the ocean, over the plains of the United States, stretching to San Francisco, the day is still young. The changes in the hour indicate at once the vastness of the country in which so many of the children of our race have found a home and the magnitude of the dispersion of our people—a dispersion almost without parallel in the story of mankind.

Nowhere, however, is the hour too late or too early to send you all, wherever you be, my most fervent greetings and my most earnest wishes for your welfare and happiness.

The aims of the new government are simple. I know no words in which I can express them better that those of Fintan Lalor:

Ireland her own, and all therein, from the sod to the sky. The soil of Ireland for the people of Ireland, to have and hold from God alone who gave it—to have and to hold to them and their heirs forever, without suit or service, faith or fealty, rent or render, to any power under heaven.

We desire to pursue these aims without ill-feeling towards any Irishman, without injury to any Irishman, without injury to any nation.

I believe that the people of Great Britain wish to be on peaceful and friendly relations with us just as we do with them. And I believe that they desire that no obstacles should be allowed to stand which would hinder the establishment of such relations. The will of our own people must prevail in all matters concerning their sovereign rights, and as our people do not desire in any way to impose burdens or tests on the people of Great Britain, they justly feel that no burdens or tests should be imposed on them. Friendship between neighbouring countries is largely dependent on the degree to which they respect each other's freedom, and it is hardly to be supposed that a different principle can operate between ourselves and Great Britain.

In the Irish Free State, as in America, there is an economic crisis. Whatever be the causes of such a crisis in this state, it is going to call forth all the energies of both the government and the people to provide adequate remedies. Our most urgent problem is that of unemployment, and my colleagues and I intend to work without ceasing until that gravest of evils has been eliminated. The slums of our cities are still a disgrace to us. The problem of their complete elimination will be studied at once, and I hope to be able to propose definite plans at an early date.

In the interests of economy considerable sacrifices will have to be made by state servants and other sections of the population. The ministers have already decided on a considerable decrease in emoluments. I have no doubt whatever that the people who are called upon will be ready and willing to make whatever sacrifices may be required of them for the betterment of the people as a whole.

Our problems are grave and numerous, but at the moment I shall only touch on two other matters which I think may be of special interest to you, my friends in America.

In our external relations, we intend to maintain our existing legations and to give attention to all those countries in which are large populations of Irish origin. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, we intend to uphold the principle of the equality of states and to advocate the reduction and eventual abolition of armaments and the establishment of a system of inter-state relationship in which the rule of law shall hold between nations as between individuals. As you are aware, we are in diplomatic relations with the Vatican, the United States, France and Germany. I am an earnest believer in close friendship and frequent contact between the nations—for by no other means can war be more effectively abolished than by mutual understanding. We can all learn much from each other and profit by each other's experience. This small state has to be satisfied with small beginnings in external affairs, and our machinery is now almost adequate for our present needs.

In America you are deeply interested in education, and for us here it is, in more than one sense, the most important question of all. Besides the progressively increasing use of the Irish language in our schools, we intend to develop a system of primary education more in accord with our economic life than at present exists in the Saorstát.

The system of adapting part of the curriculum to regional needs will probably be selected as one means of encouraging the young men and women to stay in the country. Our whole system of technical education must be linked up with the primary and art schools. This will lead to the rural development of small industries such as exist in Italy, and will also help toward the problem of providing employment for the children of the small farmer during the slack months of the year.

I cannot now speak to you in detail of our plans for the development of our rural industries, but I cannot let the occasion pass without urging our people at home to regard it as a matter of duty to support our existing industries.

I urge upon our people abroad to give a preference to Irish over foreign produce.

I have read with admiration the appeals made by certain European statesmen for special sacrifice and hard work amongst their people, and I have watched with even greater admiration the ready response given by whole peoples vastly greater than the population of this island. I have the utmost confidence that my appeal to the people of the Free State to make a special effort on behalf of their own industries will meet with a response no less ready.

My time is running out, but before concluding I wish to extend in advance to all our American friends who intend to come to the Eucharistic Congress a right hearty welcome. We earnestly hope that great numbers of our exiles will return for that great festival which will bring blessings and glory to our country. You may feel assured that you will find peace and harmony amongst us, and you will return to your adopted country with new and joyful hopes for the future of the motherland.

The Tailteann games are also being held this year and have our wholehearted approval. The games are of very great national value, unifying our people in sentiment and endeavour and giving them, no matter in what land they live, a just sense of pride in the spiritual ideals, the physical prowess and the intellectual achievements of the Gael.

In conclusion I wish to seize this opportunity to thank all our friends in America who helped us in our work for Ireland, whether in the more remote or the recent past. Your common desire has always been to bring about the unity and independence of this nation.

I ask all the friends of Ireland in America to regard the advent of the government in the Free State as a sign from our people that they wish to put an end to all bitterness and disunion. As my last word on our National Feast Day, I most earnestly appeal to all Irishmen at home and abroad to close their ranks and to march forward with us. Let our desire to work for our country be our common bond, and let us be content to vie with each other for the honour of serving Ireland.

Speeches and Statements by Eamon de Valera, 1917–73, edited by Maurice Moynihan (1980), pp. 193–196.

Reproduced by permission of St. Martin's Press, LLC, and Gill & Macmillan, Dublin.