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The Commission on Vocational Organisation was a 1939–43 body in Ireland to suggest structures for the organisation of Irish civil society by "vocation" (occupation). The Commission's 1944 report was largely the work of its chairman, Michael Browne, the Catholic bishop of Galway, who was heavily influenced by the Catholic social teaching of Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno, though at pains to distinguish its proposal from corporatism. Browne was suspicious of civil servants and held the professions in high regard. The Fianna Fáil government largely ignored the report upon its publication. Though the opposition parties expressed more support, they did not implement much of it when they gained power in 1948.

1938 Seanad motion by Frank MacDermot and Michael Tierney:[1]

That, in the opinion of the Seanad, a small commission should be appointed by the Government to examine and report on the possibility of extending vocational organisation by legislative or administrative action.

Appointed 10 January 1939; delivered report 4 November 1943; report published ZZZ 1944.

No major or Seanad-related recommendations were implemented. Minor influence on: Hire Purchase Act, 1946; the Industrial Relations Act, 1946; the Auctioneers and House Agents Act, 1947; Consultative Medical Council. Reffed in 1941 Seanad debate on 2nd amend const.

Dáil questions 1943, 1945, 1947.

1946 estimates debate: Mulcahy raises report (council of education, council of health; quote Min for Ag James Ryan "as a source of information on vocationalism there was no question of its value but he must reserve the right to question some of its deductions and conclusions") De Valera replies "One of the principal difficulties we saw there was the question of organising the rural population—how were we going to get that done? I do not think that anybody would hold that the scheme that has been suggested there is really a workable scheme. I do not think so myself. I do not think it would work out. It is much too complicated and too cumbrous. [...] We are in favour of co-operation and of the development of a vocational organisation of the type that I have mentioned, but, again, we feel that we should not impose it. [...] The trouble is that it is not so easy to get a single group. The Minister [of Education] at the moment has the assistance of a number of groups."

Lemass was hostile and offended by the report's criticism of Department of Industry and Commerce:[2] Seanad 1945: "I have read the report of that commission on more than one occasion and I have been unable to come to any conclusion as to whether the querulous, nagging, propagandist tone of its observations is to be attributed to unfortunate drafting or to a desire to distort the picture. The commission spent a great deal of energy upon its researches, and a very long time in preparing its report, and I think it is unfortunate that the report, when published, should be such a slovenly document. I think that that is a fair description of it, because it contains an extraordinary number of mis-statements of fact which [1324] could easily have been rectified by a telephone inquiry to the Department or organisation concerned. In some respects, its recommendations are self-contradictory." The report was marked by the same distrust of civil servants and adulation for professions that motivated opposition to the Mother and Child Scheme, and was buried in the face of opposition from the civil service.[3]

Offered "an eccentric blueprint".[4]

MacBride in particular and 1947 opposition in general supported it.[5]

Garvin endorses earlier commentators.[6]

Members

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List:[7]

  1. Michael Browne (chair)
  2. Louie Bennett
  3. H P Boland (civil servant, father of Frederick Henry Boland[8])
  4. Seán Campbell
  5. Edward Coyne
  6. George Hugh Cecil Crampton (Crampton's, one of Dublin's largest building firms)[9]
  7. Luke Duffy (replaced Foran)
  8. Thomas Foran (resigned April 1939)
  9. Lucy Franks (Irish Countrywomen's Association)
  10. Patrick Gallagher (?Paddy "the Cope" Gallagher?)
  11. Arnold Harvey
  12. John M. Hayes
  13. James Alexander Hamilton Irwin (Presbyterian minister and republican)
  14. Dr Henry Kennedy (secretary of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society)
  15. Jim Larkin ("ceased to be a member before the Commission completed its work")[10]
  16. F. A. Lowe (director, Hely's stationers; member Dublin Mercantile Association)
  17. C. P. McCarthy (accountant; 1943 president of Cork Chamber of Commerce)
  18. Maureen McGeehin (teacher; later Maureen Wall, UCD history dept)
  19. Sir Alexander Maguire (?Alexander Maguire?)
  20. Algernon A. Odlum (of Odlums Group)
  21. Timothy O'Mahony (?Dún Laoghaire borough manager?)
  22. Stephen O'Mara
  23. Alfred O'Rahilly
  24. Michael Tierney
  25. James J. Walsh
  26. Richard Wilson (?Richard Wilson (Irish politician)?)
  • P. A. O'Toole (secretary; civil servant)

References

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Sources

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Primary
  • Commission on Vocational Organisation (18 August 1944). Report. Dublin: Stationery Office. OCLC 7057476.
Summaries and reviews
Histories
  • Clear, Caitriona (1995). ""The Women Can Not be Blamed": The Commission on Vocational Organisation, Feminism and Home-makers in Independent Ireland in the 1930s and '40s". In O'Dowd, Mary; Wichert, Sabine (eds.). Chattel, Servant or Citizen. XXIst Irish Conference of Historians, 27–30 May 1993. Historical studies. Vol. 19. Belfast. pp. 179–186. ISBN 0853895767.
  • Lee, Joseph J. (1979). "Aspects of Corporatist Thought in Ireland: The Commission on Vocational Organisation, 1939–43.". In Cosgrove, Art; McCartney, Donal (eds.). Studies in Irish History: Presented to R. Dudley Edwards. Dublin: University College Dublin. pp. 324–46. ISBN 0901120618. OCLC 464504344.
  • Swift, John (1 May 1975). "Report of Commission on Vocational Organisation (and it's Times, 1930-'40's)". Saothar. 1 (1). Irish Labour History Society: 54–63. JSTOR 23194163.
Other
  • All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution (April 1997). Second Progress Report: Seanad (PDF). p. 57.
  • Broderick, Eugene (1994). "The corporate labour policy of Fine Gael, 1934". Irish Historical Studies. 29 (113): 88–99. doi:10.1017/S0021121400018782. JSTOR 30007192. S2CID 157320929.
  • Evans, Bryce (2011). Seán Lemass: Democratic Dictator. Collins. ISBN 978-1848891227.
  • Hazelkorn, Ellen (1988). "The Social and Political Views of Louie Bennett, 1870-1956". Saothar. 13: 32–44. JSTOR 23196016.
  • O'Leary, Don (2000). Vocationalism and Social Catholicism in Twentieth-Century Ireland: The Search for a Christian Social Order. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0716526670.

Citations

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  1. ^ "Extension of Vocational Organisation. Wednesday, 13 July 1938 Seanad Éireann Debate Vol. 21 No. 7". Retrieved 2 June 2017.; "Extension of Vocational Organisation. Thursday, 21 July 1938 Seanad Éireann Debate Vol. 21 No. 9". Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  2. ^ Lee, Joseph (1989). Ireland, 1912-1985: Politics and Society. Cambridge University Press. pp. 274–277. ISBN 9780521377416. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  3. ^ Keogh, Dermot (2005-09-27). Twentieth-Century Ireland. New Gill History of Ireland. Vol. 6. Gill & Macmillan. pp. 141–142. ISBN 9780717159437. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  4. ^ Jackson, Alvin (2014-03-27). The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History. OUP Oxford. p. 962. ISBN 9780191667602. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  5. ^ Cahillane, Laura; Gallen, James; Hickey, Tom (2017-02-19). Judges, politics and the Irish Constitution. Manchester University Press. p. 239. ISBN 9781526108203. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  6. ^ Garvin, Tom (2004-08-24). Preventing the Future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long?. Gill Books. pp. 208–209. ISBN 9780717163595. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Photograph of Commission on Vocational Organisation, Newman House, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin". UCD Digital Library. UCD. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Diplomatic representation abroad from J.P. Walshe to H.P. Boland - 05 May 1927 - Documents on IRISH FOREIGN POLICY". Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  9. ^ "CRAMPTON, GEORGE JAMES". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  10. ^ McCarthy, Charles (1978). "The Impact of Larkinism onThe Irish Working Class" (PDF). Saothar. 4: James Larkin 1876-1947. Irish Labour History Society: 54.

Category:Corporatism Category:1939 establishments in Ireland Category:1943 disestablishments in Ireland Category:Committees Category:1943 in Irish politics Category:Failed amendments of the Constitution of Ireland

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