Letter from Frederick H. Boland to Seán Nunan (Dublin)

My wife and I attended the Easter Commemoration Ceilidhe organised by the Association of Old I.R.A. and Cumann na mBan at the All Ireland Hall, Cricklewood, on 30th March. There was the usual dancing and Frank Ryan,¹ the Waterford Tenor, and Delia Murphy sang.² The platform consisted of Frank Lee, the President of the Association, James Conway and Michael Walsh of the London County Board of the G.A.A., Hugh Delargy, M.P., several Irish Priests, etc. A Guard of Honour of Old I.R.A. received us on arrival and escorted us out when we left. There were about 1,000 people present at the Ceilidhe which was a dignified and well organised affair.

There were the usual speeches and, as they were attuned to the purpose of the celebration, which was to commemorate Easter week, I had to make my remarks slightly more 'political' than I normally consider it prudent and appropriate to do. As the abridged report in the 'Irish Press' of 31st is inevitably somewhat misleading, I attach the text of what I said on the subject of Partition.³ My reason for putting this emphasis on the necessity for individual activity was that it is a universal complaint with people like Tadhg Feehan, Jim Conway, and the older and more nationally minded members of the Irish organisations here, that the young people coming over from Ireland nowadays tend to be frightfully inert and apathetic about everything Irish, including the Partition problem.