Michael Collins and the Financing of Violent Political Struggle by Nicholas Ridley

Author:Nicholas Ridley [Ridley, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Ireland, Great Britain, General, Political Science, Terrorism
ISBN: 9781315444901
Google: Mt5CDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-11-22T05:02:12+00:00

O Mara had been kept up to date with news of Collins.31 Some weeks before writing the reply to de Valera, O Mara had written discreetly to Collins voicing frustration and desperation in that he simply could not keep going indefinitely and heartily wished to finish. He confirmed his resignation of his Dail Loan trusteeship to Collins, effective within two months. At least Collins would heed him.

At the same time as his harsh reply to de Valera, O Mara wrote to Boland, still active in the United States, stating that de Valera’s instructions in money matters “renders too remote the issue of a loan”. He returned the cheque for £250,000 and instructed Boland to acknowledge receipt of the returned cheque to himself and fellow Dail trustees. Boland quickly replied, conciliatory in tone, but at the same time emphasising his, Boland’s, role as “Envoy”. He refused to receive the cheque and requested O Mara to continue his work. De Valera, through Boland, offered O Mara the post of de facto Irish ambassador to the United States.32 O Mara was stung by Boland’s outright refusal of his instructions regarding the cheque (a matter of finance, and therefore within his, O Mara’s, remit and decision) and was thoroughly disillusioned with de Valera’s conduct and his inept financial judgement.

He refused the post outright, stating in his rely to Boland that he could not take this or any position

under the government of the Irish Republic whose resident claims such arbitrary executive authority and in whose judgement of American affairs I no longer have any confidence.33

He sent his resignation letter to de Valera, for placing before the Dail. De Valera immediately sent O Mara a short, discourteous telegram, stating to O Mara that he was fired.34

It had been shabby treatment of an individual who had selflessly dedicated himself to hard work, unpaid – his personal expenses and outlay were estimated to amount to £10,000 – and whose business had suffered whilst he was absent. De Valera was to further downplay O Mara’s part in fundraising in the United States. He did mention O Mara, but in conjunction with Frank P Walsh, the Chairman of the American Delegation for Irish Independence and he slanted success in the United States as mainly due to Walsh.36 However, Collins from whose initiative and under whose authority as Minister of Finance O Mara37 had been sent to the United States to assist de Valera, paid full and due respect to O Mara’s achievements when he gave an account of fundraising to the Dail. In this account on 26 August 1921 Collins singled out O Mara and acknowledged

But for the pioneering work done by Mr James O Mara, they would not have been nearly so successful in raising the monies abroad … he (Collins) only voiced the feelings of everyone who worked with him, as he had done, that they would ever feel grateful to Mr James O Mara for the work he had done.38

The monies raised in the United States exceeded the $5 million target by the time of its closure in September 1920.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.